In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off the “Make in India” initiative with the aim to encourage domestic mobile phone manufacturing in the country. Recent insights shared by the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) shows India to be on the right track for achieving its goal of becoming a major mobile phone manufacturing powerhouse. 

At a press briefing in Delhi, ICEA National President Pankaj Mohindroo shared that other than the big brands like Apple, Samsung, LG, Oppo and Vivo, there is a whole lot of medium enterprises which have come into manufacturing. 

As per the detailed physical survey conducted by ICEA, the Delhi-NCR region has about 30 mobile handset manufacturing units, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 27, Haryana with 15, Maharashtra 14 and Uttrakhand 9. Delhi-NCR tops the ranking with 18 battery pack factories, followed by UP with 14, Haryana with 13, Himachal Pradesh with 7 and Maharashtra with 4. The survey further found that UP has about 39 factories dedicated to chargers/adapters, followed by Delhi with 24, Haryana with 18, Maharashtra with 12 and Uttrakhand with 10.

With over 268 mobile handset and component manufacturing factories and over 6.7 lakh jobs, India has surpassed Vietnam to become second largest producer of mobile phones in the world. 

ICEA predicts this number to further increase and expects the total number of mobile handset and component manufacturing units to reach 1,800 and generate 50 lakh jobs by 2025. 

Besides contributing to the talent market with more jobs, the growing mobile manufacturing activity has saved the country an estimated Rs. 3 lakh crore in foreign exchange in lieu of import substitution and created and domestic value addition. 

Mobile Manufacturing in India: A $230 Bn opportunity

In of their reports, ICEA identified that mobile phone manufacturing in the country has the potential to become a $230 Bn export-oriented hub by 2025. While many players in the smartphone category like Samsung and Oppo are already working on their mobile phone manufacturing plants in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, others like Samsung and Lava have also shifted base and have started manufacturing locally in India. Further India’s location at a point close to Europe, Africa and Asian countries can also play a major role in increasing its export figures. All that the sector requires is more support in terms of policy boosts and tax incentives aimed towards ease of doing business and these steps will not only help achieve a mobile manufacturing potential worth $230 Bn, but will also help in creating more jobs and better business opportunities.