India becomes world’s 2nd largest mobile phone manufacturer as shipments cross 2 billion: Report

Published On: August 16, 2023

The government has been pushing its ‘Make in India’ initiative for years now, especially for the smartphone industry. ‘Made in India’ mobile phone shipments have crossed the 2-billion mark for the period between 2014 and 2022 making India the second-biggest mobile phone-producing country.

Made in India mobile phone shipments cross 2-billion mark

According to the latest report from Counterpoint Research, “huge internal demand, increasing digital literacy and government push” are the major reasons behind local mobile phone shipments crossing two billion. Various schemes such as Phased Manufacturing Program (PMP), Production Linked Incentive (PLI) and Atma-Nirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) have also helped in pushing local manufacturing of mobile phones.

Show Full Article

Data shared by Counterpoint shows a steady growth for local manufacturing that stood at 14 percent back in 2014. Fast forward to 2022, the growth percentage is now sitting at 98 percent. This means that 98 percent of mobile phone shipments in India were made in India. It’s worth noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the ‘Make in India’ initiative in 2014 after which efforts to boost local manufacturing began.

Research Director Tarun Pathak said, “Many companies are setting up units in the country for manufacturing mobile phones as well as components, leading to growing investments, increasing jobs and overall ecosystem development. The government now intends to capitalize on its various schemes to make India a ‘semiconductor manufacturing and export hub’. Going forward, we may see increasing production, especially for smartphones, as India gears to bridge the urban-rural digital divide and also become a mobile phone exporting powerhouse.”

Smartphone companies manufacturing in India

Smartphone brands, over the years, have been heavily investing in local manufacturing. Samsung, for example, has its second biggest manufacturing facility in the world here in Noida. Its biggest R&D centre is also located in Bengaluru.
Apple, although highly popular in India, doesn’t have manufacturing plants, but it does assemble iPhones here including the iPhone 14 series. Tata is set to become the first Indian company to manufacture iPhones after its tie-up with Wistron.