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Thanks to manufacturing sops, domestic demand and robust exports, India has a thriving electronics goods segment

- NACHIKET KELKAR

Think exports from India and what usually come to mind are software services, pharmaceuticals and textiles. Maybe it is time to take a closer look. Exports of electronic goods from India jumped 50 per cent in 2022-23— from $15.66 billion the previous year to $23.57 billion. India’s readymade garments exports in the same year was just around $16 billion.

Electronic goods was the sixth largest commodity group in India’s goods exports last financial year and had a share of more than 5 per cent in total merchandise exports. While it has been steadily improving in the past five years, the trend accelerated in 2022-23, said Madhavi Arora, lead economist at Emkay Global Financial Services. Exports of electronic goods are growing at four times the rate of total goods exports.

Interestingly, a big driver of the trend is mobile phones. Exports of mobile phones from India touched ₹90,000 crore in 2022-23, according to India Cellular and Electronics Association. “India’s smartphone exports were as low as $0.4 billion in FY14, even falling to nil the following year, but the China plus one story (a strategy where companies avoid investing only in China), as well as the government’s production-linked incentive (PLI), helped boost external shipments to $11.1 billion in FY23,” said Arora.

Apple, makers of the iPhone, accounted for about half of the mobile phone exports from India. Not surprisingly, increasing production in India was on agenda when Apple CEO Tim Cook met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar during his recent visit.