Apple’s iPhone exports from India just smashed through ₹2 trillion for the first time since starting production here in 2021, hitting a record ₹2.03 trillion or $23 billion for January to December 2025—that’s a huge 85% jump from ₹1.1 trillion in 2024, based on data vendors shared with central and state governments, as reported by Economic Times.
This marks a big win for the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme kicked off in 2020, which helped build India’s electronics manufacturing setup step by step. Exports grew every year: from ₹8,800 crore in 2021 to ₹36,234 crore in 2022, more than doubling to ₹74,000 crore in 2023, then climbing to ₹1.1 trillion in 2024—numbers straight from those vendor reports cited in ET.
Overall, through Indian partners, Apple shipped $50 billion worth of iPhones by December 2025 since joining PLI in FY22, with $16 billion already out the door in FY26’s first nine months, said an official to ET—way ahead of Samsung’s $17 billion from FY21 to FY25.
It all started with Apple picking two vendors, Wistron and Foxconn, after PLI launched, but a year’s delay hit due to the pandemic and India-China border issues, so real production for exports began in 2021. Back in 2020, as Apple’s supply chain moved away from China, folks expected many Chinese suppliers to shift here too—the government even okayed 14 of them despite Press Note 3 rules. But spotting the tensions and India’s push for local growth, Apple switched gears from 2023 to bring in Indian firms, especially MSMEs, for tech sharing and job skills.
Tata Group led the charge, buying Wistron’s Karnataka factory in 2023 and grabbing a big stake in Pegatron’s Tamil Nadu plant; now five factories—three Tata, two Foxconn—support nearly 45 companies across eight states, including stars like Motherson, Hindalco, Wipro Pari, Jabil, Aequs, SFO Technologies, and Bharat Forge for parts and assemblies.
Thanks to this, smartphone value addition jumped to 19% by mid-2025 over four years, per Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)—that’s close to half of China’s 40-45% built over 18 years since 2007. The new Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) takes it further, aiming for 30% in four years; Apple suppliers like Motherson, Tata Electronics, Foxconn (enclosures), ATL (Li-ion cells), and Hindalco (aluminium) grabbed over 60% of investments and jobs in the second tranche, with total ECMS approvals hitting ₹54,567 crore for 46 firms and 27,614 direct jobs, as per Business Today and Business Standard reports.
Samsung’s in too, making display modules for 300 new jobs. Now, iPhones make up 75% of smartphone shipments, turning the category into India’s top export item in FY25 from 167th in 2015—and India even exports components to China and Vietnam for Apple gear like MacBooks, AirPods, Watches, and Pencils.
With smartphone PLI wrapping up in March 2027 (extended one year after early misses due to setup delays for Apple and Dixon, unlike Samsung which finished FY21-FY25), officials promise ongoing support via new schemes to level the playing field against China and Vietnam. Queries to Apple and Samsung went unanswered, but the numbers don’t lie—this PLI push made India, besides China, the only iPhone maker, fueling a self-reliant ecosystem with MSMEs at the heart.
