Apple iPhone exports hit top gear, touch Rs 20,000 crore in first quarter

This is half of what it exported in the entire FY23

In a major upsurge, Apple has breached exports from India valued at Rs. 20,000 crore of iPhones in just the first quarter of FY24, which accounts for half of what it had achieved in the full financial year of FY23. The Q1 numbers represent a staggering 400 per cent growth in iPhone exports over the last financial year in the same quarter when it exported only Rs. 4,950 crore. What’s more, under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme, its three vendors — Foxconn Hon Hai, Wistron and Pegatron — have committed exports of Rs. 61,000 crore in FY24 in the third year of the scheme.

The good news is that one-third of this export commitment to the government for this financial year (FY24) has already been met by Apple’s vendors in the first quarter and all it has to do is finish the rest in the remaining three quarters. Analysts say, based on Apple’s aggressive export performance, that exports could well exceed the company’s commitment under the PLI scheme.  The massive increase in exports came from iPhone models 12, 13 and 14.
 

In the second full year of the PLI for mobile devices of FY23 when all three vendors were eligible for financial incentives, their combined iPhone exports hit Rs. 40,000 crore. In that financial year, Apple alone contributed 45 per cent of the total Rs. 90,000 crore mobile phone exports from the country. 
 

Last year, exports of mobile phones from India increased by nearly 100 per cent from Rs. 45,000 crore in FY22.
 

Mobile phone exports have also helped propel electronics into being one of the top five exports in the last fianancial year, after engineering goods, petroleum products, gems and jewellery, organic and inorganic chemicals.  
 

Based on individual products, HIS codes smartphones have emerged as the fifth largest commodity export after automobile diesel, diamonds, aviation turbine fuel, and motor gasoline.
 

The government, however, has fixed an ambitious target of exporting over $50-$58 billion mobile phones by FY26 – a figure which the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association feels might not be reached, hitting only $40-$45 billion. 
 

The big gap could primarily be on account of the promised exports from Chinese brands not materializing. The association has estimated that Chinese brand exports would reach $10-12 billion by FY26 but in FY23, they touched a mere $157 million collectively.

Moreover, exports by Indian champions have also faltered, except for a few like Dixon Technologies. While the expectation is that Apple will breach its commitment on exports and do much better - shifting nearly 25 per cent of its manufacturing capacity from China to India - even that big leap might not be enough for India to achieve its export target for mobile devices by FY26.