India targets 35-40% domestic value addition in mobile phones, says MeitY Secretary S Krishnan

India is targeting 35-40% domestic value addition in mobile phone manufacturing, up from the current 22-23%, as the government looks to deepen the electronics supply chain and give India a larger role in global manufacturing, S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), said on Friday.

Speaking at the fifth edition of the Business Today India@100 Summit, Krishnan said technological self-reliance should not mean manufacturing every component domestically. Instead, India needs strategic autonomy, alternative supply chains and a larger share of the value chain within the country. “The important thing about being Atmanirbhar is about being resilient and about having strategic autonomy. It does not necessarily mean a situation where you are making everything yourself,” Krishnan said.

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India’s electronics production increased from ₹1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15 to ₹13.11 lakh crore in 2025-26, while electronics exports rose from ₹38,000 crore to ₹4.24 lakh crore over the same period, according to government data. The ecosystem now supports nearly 25 lakh jobs.

Mobile phones have led this expansion. Production rose from ₹18,900 crore in 2014-15 to ₹6.27 lakh crore in 2025-26, while exports increased from ₹1,566 crore to ₹2.60 lakh crore. Mobile phones became India’s largest export product in FY2025-26. “When we started out, this entire process of manufacturing mobile phones in the country, which is the big story, we were doing a value addition of about 15%. Now today, domestic value addition in that sector has reached about 22-23%. Ultimately, our goal is to get to about 35-40%,” he said.

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From assembly to components

Krishnan said assembly has been important in creating scale and employment, with some of the largest electronics facilities employing 50,000-70,000 workers. “I would not scoff at assembly, saying, ‘Oh, it is just assembly’, because there are two important things there. One, that is where the largest number of jobs are,” he said. “You start with scale. You are assembling enough of those products in the country. Then slowly the value addition commences,” he added.

The government is now placing greater emphasis on components through the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS). Approved in March 2025 with an initial outlay of ₹22,919 crore, the scheme aims to build a domestic component ecosystem and integrate Indian companies with global value chains.

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The government increased the ECMS outlay to ₹40,000 crore in Budget 2026. So far, 75 applications covering 23 products have been approved. The projects are expected to attract ₹61,671 crore in investment, generate ₹4.51 lakh crore in production and create 65,040 direct jobs.

The approved projects include printed circuit boards, passive components, electromechanical components, subassemblies, camera modules, optical transceivers, and capital equipment.

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Krishnan said export demand would be the test of whether Indian-made components are competitive. “The only way that you can be sure that you are competitive is if what you make can be exported. If the rest of the world is prepared to buy what you make, even if it is an intermediate good, then that means you have achieved cost and quality competitiveness,” he said.

Mobile phones as a base for advanced manufacturing

Krishnan said the capabilities developed through mobile phone manufacturing could be applied to other categories of electronics. “Today we are the second-largest manufacturer of mobile phones in the world,” he said. Precision manufacturing and the integration of miniaturised components could support products such as AR/VR headsets and smart glasses, he said.

The government has also approved a new Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme with a ₹62,500 crore budgetary outlay for five years from FY2026-27 to FY2030-31. The scheme aims to scale up production, strengthen supply-chain resilience and improve global competitiveness. Government data shows that 99.2% of mobile phones used in India are now manufactured domestically, while domestic value addition had reached 23% in FY2023-24.

Krishnan said three semiconductor projects are already operational in India, while another two or three could come online by the end of 2026. The government’s semiconductor programme has approved 12 projects involving committed investment of ₹1.64 lakh crore. The Union Cabinet approved Semicon 2.0 in July 2026 with an outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore, covering semiconductor design, fabrication, advanced packaging, equipment and materials.

Krishnan said market demand was an important consideration in approving the projects. “We are fairly clear and almost all the units, and every unit which has been approved already, has orders against which they are manufacturing,” he said. Customers are already visiting the facilities to assess whether the plants can meet required quality standards, he added.

Strategic autonomy, not self-sufficiency

Krishnan said technological self-reliance does not mean India cutting itself off from global supply chains. Electronics is a global industry, with components moving across several countries before a finished product reaches consumers. A mobile phone, he pointed out, can cross about 70 borders before reaching its final destination. “Given the size of the country we are, given the size of market that we represent, given what our population needs, we must have strategic autonomy in this space,” he said. India also needs alternative value chains to avoid overdependence on any one geography, while developing enough domestic capability to become strategically important to other countries, he indicated.

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