New Delhi, April 1 (IANS) Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Jitin Prasada, on Wednesday highlighted that India’s electronics manufacturing sector has witnessed a sharp expansion over the past decade, with production rising over six-fold to around Rs 12 lakh crore in FY25 from about Rs 1.9 lakh crore in FY15.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, the minister said exports of electronic goods have surged nearly eight times to about Rs 3.3 lakh crore, while mobile phone production jumped 28-fold to Rs 5.45 lakh crore during the period.

The growth has been driven by targeted policy interventions under the Centre’s Atmanirbhar Bharat vision, aimed at building a complete electronics value chain — from finished goods to components, sub-assemblies and capital equipment.

Meanwhile, mobile phone exports saw the sharpest rise, increasing 127 times to Rs 2 lakh crore, transforming India from a net importer in 2014 to a net exporter, with over 300 manufacturing units now operational.

Launched in 2020, the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for large-scale electronics manufacturing has played a key role in this transformation. Against a target investment of Rs 7,000 crore, actual investments reached Rs 17,519 crore — 2.5 times the target — while production and exports exceeded targets by 36 per cent to Rs 11 lakh crore and 27 per cent to Rs 6.2 lakh crore, respectively, till February.

In terms of employment, the PLI scheme generated around 1.85 lakh direct jobs, achieving about 92 per cent of its target of 2 lakh.

“As a result, India has emerged as the world’s second-largest mobile phone manufacturer, with the sector supporting around 12 lakh jobs, both direct and indirect,” the minister said.

Smartphones have now become India’s top export item in 2025, surpassing traditional exports such as refined petroleum products and cut diamonds.

The government has also expanded its focus to IT hardware manufacturing through the PLI 2.0 scheme, under which production of Rs 18,863 crore and investments of Rs 872 crore have been achieved so far.

The minister further said that the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) has attracted investment commitments worth Rs 1.15 lakh crore against a target of Rs 59,350 crore, with an estimated employment potential of 1.4 lakh jobs.

So far, 75 applications have been approved across 12 states under the scheme, the minister said.

Prasada said these initiatives are helping deepen domestic value addition, currently estimated at 18-20 per cent, while positioning India as a key global manufacturing hub.

–IANS

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