Smartphone behemoths Apple and Samsung are set to go past the PLI (Performance Linked Incentive) scheme targets by a comfortable 50% margin, thereby giving an impetus to the government's much-vaunted 'Make in India' scheme.
This performance by the two tech majors is in contrast to the show last year when the PLI scheme for mobile phone makers got off to a conservative start as manufacturers could not meet the production targets they had committed themselves to avail the government's incentive.
Apple and Samsung are likely to manufacture/assemble smartphones worth $5 billion (roughly Rs 37,000 crore) in FY21-22. The two main contract manufacturers of Apple in India, Foxconn and Wistron, will get the PLI incentives for the first time this year. The third Apple assembler Pegatron is likely to begin production this year. Samsung, which has its own production facility at Noida, is not new to the PLI scheme.
It is indeed praise-worthy that the companies managed to meet the PLI scheme targets despite the global chip shortage and the pandemic-induced supply-chain constraints.
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Apple, Samsung exports from India too growing
The new agency IANS, quoting Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman of the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), said "the leading global value chains (GVC) firms have got off to a blazing start. Besides Pegatron and Bharat FIH which are now gearing up, the big three -- Wistron, Pegatron and Samsung -- will achieve significant production of $5 billion in 2022".
What more, he said, India-based manufacturers like Lava, Dixon Technologies and UTL have also done well, while contract manufacturers like Opteimus and Bhagwati "are also gearing up".
The obvious aim of the PLI scheme is to provide impetus to mobile phones manufacturing in India, and make it a production hub for smartphones.
This is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make in India scheme where companies stand to gain between 4% to 6% on additional sales of goods produced locally over a period of five years.
An Indian government panel had in September 2020 cleared applications from these smartphone manufacturers to export mobile phones worth around $100 billion (Rs 7.3 lakh crore) from India.
Thanks to the scheme, Apple and Samsung are exporting locally-produced smartphones to the world like never before.
The IANS report, quoting data from market research firm CMR said "in 2021, the top countries that 'Make in India' iPhones were exported to include the UK (27%), Japan (24%), the Netherlands (23%), Germany (7%), Italy (4%), Turkey (4%) and the UAE (2%).
Samsung exports from India were to the UAE (47%), Russia (12%), South Africa (7%), Germany (5%), Morocco (4%) and the UK (3%).
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