Mobile phones now 5th largest export commodity from India: ICEA

Export and production heights: Mobile phones have become India’s fifth largest export as an individual commodity, recent data shared by ICEA shows.

The cumulative exports of mobile phones during the 2014-24 period have reached an estimate of Rs 3.22 lakh crores, as per the figures shared on March 7.

The export figures in 2014-15 were merely Rs 1,556 crores in comparison.

Accruing mobile phone production in the country over the ten-year timeframe are about Rs 20 lakh crore, expected to cross the cumulative production milestone of Rs 19.45 lakh crore this fiscal year.

''The industry had set itself a target of INR 20,00,000 crores over this ten-year period. It finished the decade at Rs 19,45,100 crore cumulative production. In terms of volume, India produced 245 crore units of mobile phones during this ten-year period, against a goal of 250 crore units," ICEA said.

The production for mobile phones also rose almost 2,000 per cent to an approximate Rs 4,10,000 crore in the 2024 fiscal year, which was at a figure of Rs 18,900 crore in the 2014-15 period. 

It is believed that India's GDP doubling from the present $3.7 trillion to $7 trillion by 2030 will be ushered by the digital sector expanding, and for trade where mobile production-led electronics manufacturing will play a crucial role, according to ICEA Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo.

''As a next step, we have to ensure that we can shift electronics GVCs (global value chains) to India to create large-scale manufacturing jobs and increase domestic value addition. This, in turn, requires unprecedented competitiveness and factories that can operate at scale of the kind that has never been witnessed in India," he said.

As per the industry body, 97 per cent of all mobile phones sold in India are made here itself, with 30 per cent of production in FY'24  now meant for exports.

''The industry expects to end FY'24 with an estimated export of Rs 1.2 lakh crore. This would mean a 7500 per cent increase in exports over a decade,' ICEA said.

The industry body also said if it were not for this self-sufficiency and if the country was still import-dependent on 2014 levels, the import expense in terms of mobile phone imports alone in the ten-year period would have been Rs 14.34 lakh crore.

(With PTI inputs)