India's growth in smartphone exports hit a record high during the April–June quarter (Q1FY26) when shipments to foreign markets rose to $7.72 billion—a 58% growth from $4.9 billion in the same period last year, reported media.
At the forefront of this surge was Apple Inc., which shipped iPhones valued at $6 billion to its contract manufacturers.
This is a stark 82% year-on-year growth for the company, this quarter marking Apple's highest export quarter from India so far.
Apple's share accounted for approximately 78% of the entire smartphone exports during the quarter, a new record for Indian smartphone exports on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
Industry experts put this upsurge largely down to the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, launched in 2020, which has dramatically increased indigenous manufacturing output in the electronics industry.
To make the growth pace clear: India's smartphone exports were $3.1 billion in FY21. By FY25, these had climbed to $24.1 billion—$17.5 billion of which came entirely from Apple alone.
In total, India's exports of electronics during Q1FY26 stood at $12.4 billion, a 48% rise year-on-year in the same quarter. Smartphones alone represented 62% of this, an improvement from 58% last year, highlighting the country's transition from simple assembly lines to higher-end electronics manufacturing.
Among other major exporters, Padget Electronics—a subsidiary of Dixon Technologies—exported $175 million worth of smartphones in the quarter. Samsung too contributed substantially with 12% of the country's smartphone exports.
Still, potential headwinds may arise from a U.S. probe under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which is looking into national security threats posed by imports. The investigation, due to finish by August 14, may result in fresh import tariffs that can impact global supply chains.
Identifying India's sharp rise in electronics trade, press reports cited that smartphones, which were at number 167 of India's export list in FY15, have since emerged as the top export product by HS code of India in FY25—establishing India as an emerging hub for international electronics manufacturing.
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