India's Mobile Phone Manufacturing Fuels Jobs, Exports and New Incentive Scheme

India’s electronics sector has become a major engine of industrial growth, creating nearly 2.5 million jobs and propelling the country to the world’s second‑largest mobile phone producer. Mobile phone output rose from INR 18,900 crore in FY‑2014/15 to INR 6.27 lakh crore in FY‑2025/26, making phones the nation’s top export product and generating INR 4.24 lakh crore (≈ $48 billion) in electronics exports.

Government initiatives led by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) have delivered more than 530,000 jobs, including roughly 180,000 under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, with women representing about 30 % of the overall workforce and 70 % of direct mobile‑phone manufacturing jobs. The new Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS), approved on 15 July 2026 with a five‑year budget of ₹62.5 billion, replaces the earlier PLI programme. Unlike its predecessor, MPMS links incentives to domestic component sourcing and local design, aiming to raise the current 23‑24 % value‑addition rate by encouraging local production of displays, chips and camera modules.