India pushes to scale phone manufacturing
India is considering a new production‑linked incentive scheme aimed at capturing 30–35% of global mobile‑phone output by 2031, targeting roughly $130 billion of production to bolster local electronics manufacturing. The report positions the policy as a long‑term effort to shift global component and device supply chains (economictimes.indiatimes.com).
India’s electronics industry is pressing New Delhi for a new round of phone-manufacturing incentives as the current subsidy program ends and officials weigh a bigger 2031 target. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) Industry executives told the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology that India could raise its share of global mobile-phone output to 30% to 35% by fiscal 2031, up from about 15% now. They said that would lift annual production to $110 billion to $130 billion and exports to $55 billion to $70 billion. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) The push comes after India’s first production-linked incentive program for large-scale electronics manufacturing ran through March 2026. Reuters reported on March 12 that officials were preparing fresh incentives for phone makers including Apple and Samsung after the flagship program expired. (newsbreak.com) A production-linked incentive is a cash subsidy tied to how much a company makes or ships. India has used that model since 2020 to pull more assembly of iPhones, Samsung devices, and other electronics into local factories. (meity.gov.in) The government is now trying to move beyond final assembly into the parts that go inside the phone. On March 28, 2025, the Union Cabinet approved an Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme, and the ministry says it was notified on April 8, 2025. (meity.gov.in) That component push is already turning into approved projects. On March 30, 2026, India said it had cleared 29 proposals under the component scheme, with planned investment of 71.04 billion rupees, expected production of 845.15 billion rupees, and 14,246 direct jobs. (pib.gov.in; thehindu.com) Exports are giving the government a reason to keep spending. Economic Times reported that India’s smartphone exports hit a record 2 lakh crore rupees in fiscal 2025, up 54%, with Apple iPhones contributing about 1.5 lakh crore rupees. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) Trade data now shows how central phones have become to India’s export mix. The Hindu BusinessLine reported that smartphones reached 2.63 lakh crore rupees in exports in calendar 2025, overtaking diesel and loose polished diamonds as India’s largest export category by value. (thehindubusinessline.com) The harder part is local content. S&P Global said the next incentive package is expected to tie support more closely to exports and thresholds for domestic value addition, which would push manufacturers to source more displays, modules, and other parts inside India instead of importing them. (spglobal.com) What happens next depends on whether New Delhi turns the industry’s proposal into a formal scheme. If it does, the next phase of India’s phone strategy will be judged less by assembly volumes alone than by how much of the supply chain moves with them. (economictimes.indiatimes.com; spglobal.com)
