Tech giant Apple made history by becoming the first company to export smartphones worth $1 billion in a single month from India. Apple exported iPhones worth Rs 8,100 crore in December 2022, which took the overall export of smartphones to Rs 10,000 crore, according to Economic Times. This comes as a major boost to the government's 'Make in India' campaign.
Apple and Samsung have been the leaders in exporting mobile phones from India. However, Apple recently surpassed Samsung to become the top mobile phone exporter, as per government data.
Apple's $1 billion export benchmark within a month is a success story of the government's ambitious production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes, which have been extended to 13 other sectors including smartphones.
The PLI scheme aims to transform India into a manufacturing hub for smartphones, electronics and more. Manufacturers are required to submit data on production, exports, investments, and jobs to the government on a regular basis as part of the scheme.
The company is producing and exporting multiple iPhone models, including the iPhone 12, 13, 14, and 14+, from India through its three contract manufacturers — Foxconn Hon Hai, Pegatron, and Wistron, located in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. These manufacturers are participants in the smartphone Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, launched in April 2020.
Apart from the three contract manufacturers, there are some smaller Indian players that are exporting iPhones.
India is likely to export mobile phones worth $9 billion in FY23, up from $5.8 billion in FY22, as per government estimates.
India's export of electronic goods has seen significant growth in FY23. According to the Department of Commerce, overall exports of electronics goods between April and December 2022 reached $16.67 billion, which is an increase of 51.56 percent over the same period the previous year.
