India is preparing new incentives to support domestic manufacturing of mobile phones following the expiration this month of its flagship Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the sector, according to sources, which would provide a significant boost to global companies such as Apple.
Smartphone production remains a central element of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strategy to strengthen India’s manufacturing base. The country is targeting an expansion of its overall electronics manufacturing output to $500 billion by fiscal year 2030.
Reuters:
The country produced nearly $60 billion worth of mobiles in the 2024-25 fiscal year, a 28-fold jump over a decade, government data shows. Mobile exports over the same period have risen to nearly in $21.70 billion, a 127-fold jump, making for India’s most exported product in 2025.
New Delhi is considering linking the new incentives to exports to further push globally competitive production, an Indian official said. It is likely to cover investments from April this year, the official added.
Previously, industry leaders like Apple and Samsung leaned on the nation’s production-linked incentive scheme, a nearly $21 billion program designed to rival China’s factory might, that expires this month.
It helped Apple manufacture its most expensive and latest cellphone models in India, after having started with low-cost versions. [U.S. President Donald] Trump’s high tariffs on China also encouraged some production shift.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has held consultations with the industry on designing the scheme, an industry executive aware of the talks said.
MacDailyNews Take: “Make In India” isn’t going to make itself.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
