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From mobile phones to chips, Indian manufacturing & its exports enters golden era
NEW DELHI: In 2018, South Korean giant Samsung inaugurated the World’s largest mobile factory in India. The 35-acre facility at Sector 81 in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in officially inaugurating it together—placingthecountryfirmly ontheglobalmanufacturingmap.
Even before that, the Country saw a massive turnaround in mobile manufacturing. Before 2014, thereweretwomobilemanufacturing factories and now, more than 200 manufacturing units have been set up in India, producing millions of devices and exporting them to other countries.
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Fast forward to 2023. Led by locally-manufactured mobile phones, India’s electronics industry saw record exports of electronic goods at an estimated Rs 1,85,000 crore in FY22-23 — compared to Rs 1,16,936 crore in FY21-22 — marking a whopping58percentincrease.
According to data by the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), mobile phone exports made history by crossing the USD 10 billion threshold for the first time in any fiscal year, reaching an estimated USD 11.12 billion (over Rs 90,000 crore)inFY23.
This growth has been primarily driven by the Apple ecosystem, which alone grossed a record $5 billion in exportsfromIndiainFY23.
The country has now taken a leap in manufacturing IT hardware (laptops, servers, tablets), semiconductorsandmore.
Vedanta-Foxconn Semiconductors Limited (VFSL), a joint venture between Foxconn and Vedanta Group, is one such example. Vedanta and Foxconn signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat Government lastyeartoinvestRs1,54,000croreto set up the semiconductor and displaymanufacturingplantwhichis India’sfirst.
In April, Vedanta Group signed MoUswith20Koreancompaniesfrom the display glass industry for the development of an electronics manufacturinghubintheCountry.
The Centre last week approved an updated production-linked incentive (PLI)schemeforIThardware,nearly doubling the overall outlay for the schemetoaroundRs17,000crore.
The tenure of the programme will be applicable for six years and the Government expects investments worthRs2,430croreinthescheme.
