Business/Alive News: Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has defended the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile manufacturing, citing tax revenue and employment figures amid questions over India’s growing iPhone manufacturing industry.
Responding to criticism following a Bloomberg report on iPhone production in India, Vaishnaw shared figures on social media platform X. He said the government provided ₹19,000 crore in incentives under the mobile manufacturing scheme and received ₹25,000 crore in direct taxes and ₹3 lakh crore in Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Taking a swipe at critics, the minister wrote, “Cope Harder!!”
PLI Scheme and Employment Generation
Vaishnaw also highlighted the employment generated by India’s electronics manufacturing sector. According to the figures he shared, the sector has created 25 lakh jobs, including 12 lakh in mobile manufacturing.
The PLI scheme was introduced to encourage domestic manufacturing by offering incentives linked to production. India’s growing role in iPhone assembly has become a key part of the government’s efforts to expand electronics manufacturing and exports.
What Did the Bloomberg Report Say?
A Bloomberg report by opinion columnist Andy Mukherjee examined the components used in iPhones and questioned how much value India captures from manufacturing them.
The report acknowledged that India has made progress in mobile phone production. It noted that manufacturers have shifted towards assembling components locally, including fitting parts onto circuit boards, rather than importing fully assembled motherboards.
According to the report, this shift improved India’s mobile trade balance by $2.1 billion, or around ₹17,500 crore, in one year. It also stated that India now manufactures approximately one in every four iPhones produced worldwide.
However, the report raised concerns about continued dependence on imports for high-value components, including processors, memory chips, displays, camera lenses and batteries.
It questioned whether the economic benefits of the scheme would justify the public expenditure if the country continued to rely heavily on imported components.
Debate Over India’s Semiconductor Ambitions
The report also examined India’s semiconductor manufacturing plans, arguing that advanced chip fabrication remains a long-term challenge despite government support. Testing and packaging facilities are different from manufacturing advanced chips from scratch.
It suggested that India could also focus on sectors such as textiles and footwear, which have the potential to generate employment on a large scale.
The debate centres on how India can balance incentives for high-tech manufacturing with domestic component production, technology development and job creation.
