India’s iPhone export crosses Rs 2 trillion export mark amid PLI success

India’s iPhone exports hit a record high in FY26, reaching Rs 2 trillion in the final year of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for large-scale electronics manufacturing, according to a Business Insider report.

With that, the Apple-owned smartphone brand has emerged as India’s single largest branded export across all major export categories classified under the Harmonised System (HS) code framework, which covers more than 5,000 product groups used in global trade.

This assessment is based on 11-month export data for FY26 (April-February) of the top HS code products released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Must read: Beyond the iPhone: How Tim Cook made India the backbone of Apple's next decade of growth

India’s smartphone exports stood at around Rs 2.6 trillion ($29.4 billion) in FY26.

Of that, the iPhone alone accounted for over 75 per cent, making India the second-largest export category under the HS code classification during the first 11 months of FY26 - automotive diesel fuel lagged well behind at $14.53 billion, with one month of data still awaited.

Diamonds ranked third at $11.23 billion, followed by medicines at $9.98 billion. Motor gasoline ranked fifth at $8.5 billion.

In the process, Apple has become a showcase for India’s manufacturing ambitions and a flagship success story for the government’s “Make in India” push. Apple’s vendors trained workers through in-house programmes, while the supplier ecosystem was built largely around more than 40 domestic companies, alongside non-Chinese suppliers such as Japan’s TDK Corporation and several Taiwanese joint ventures. Apple has also consistently kept Chinese companies out of its India supply chain ecosystem.

Must read: Why Apple iPhones still dominate India’s resale market

In FY22, Apple exported iPhones worth Rs 9,351.6 crore, rising to Rs 44,269.5 crore in FY23. As the PLI scheme gathered momentum, Apple’s manufacturing partners, including Tata Electronics and Foxconn, pushed exports to Rs 85,013.5 crore in FY24, which then surged to Rs 1.5 trillion in FY25.

In the final year of the PLI scheme, until the first 11 months, iPhone exports jumped 33 per cent despite geopolitical tensions and tariff-related disruptions to global trade.

By FY26, Tata and Foxconn were contributing almost equally to iPhone exports. The two companies operated some of India’s largest manufacturing facilities across sectors, with the smaller plant employing more than 19,000 workers and the largest more than 42,000. More than 70 per cent of the workforce comprised women. Across Apple’s broader ecosystem, including more than 40 component suppliers, employment reached about 250,000.