Industry Pushes Smartphone PLI 2.0 as India Targets US$130 Billion Annual Output by FY31

India’s mobile manufacturing industry is seeking a second-generation incentive programme to sustain the momentum created by the original smartphone production-linked incentive scheme. According to industry estimates cited by IBEF, the proposed PLI 2.0 for 2026–31 aims to raise India’s share of global mobile phone production to 30–35% by FY31, from about 15% at present, with annual output projected at US$110–130 billion and exports at US$55–70 billion. Crucially, this is still an industry proposal, not a formally announced government scheme for smartphones as of now.

The pitch for a new scheme comes after the first smartphone PLI delivered results well above its original targets. The Ministry of Electronics and IT said on April 1, 2026 that the PLI scheme for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing (LSEM) had achieved ₹17,519 crore in investment against a target of ₹7,000 crore, ₹11,01,813 crore in production against a target of ₹8,12,550 crore, and ₹6,20,974 crore in exports against a target of ₹4,87,530 crore by February 2026. The same official update said the scheme had generated 1,85,175 direct jobs, while domestic value addition in electronics manufacturing had improved to around 18%–20%.

The larger backdrop explains why industry wants policy continuity. Official data shows India’s mobile phone production rose from about ₹18,000 crore in 2014–15 to roughly ₹5.45 lakh crore in 2024–25, while mobile phone exports climbed from about ₹1,500 crore to ₹2 lakh crore over the same period. Smartphones also emerged as India’s top exported commodity in calendar year 2025, with export value of ₹2,62,452 crore, or roughly US$30.13 billion. The government has separately said India has become the world’s second-largest mobile manufacturing country and a net exporter of mobile phones.

Momentum has continued into FY26. Electronics emerged as India’s third-largest and fastest-growing export category in 2024–25, and in the first half of FY26, electronics exports stood at US$22.2 billion, putting the sector on course to become the country’s second-largest export item. In January, IBEF, citing ICEA, reported that India’s mobile phone production was expected to reach US$75 billion in FY26, including more than US$30 billion in exports. Those numbers suggest that the industry’s FY31 targets, while ambitious, are being built on a much stronger base than even a few years ago.

What industry leaders now want is a shift from assembly-led growth toward a deeper manufacturing ecosystem that includes components, sub-modules, tooling and supply-chain resilience. Government releases already show this direction, with policy support spanning LSEM, SPECS, EMC/EMC 2.0, and the newer Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS). The proposed PLI 2.0 is therefore less about repeating the old programme and more about trying to push India from a fast-growing manufacturing base into a more complete global production hub. Whether the government adopts that roadmap in full remains to be seen, but the debate itself signals how central smartphones have become to India’s export and manufacturing strategy.

Sources:
https://www.ibef.org/news/pli-2-0-may-help-india-capture-35-of-global-mobile-output-with-an-annual-production-of-us-130-billion-by-fy31
https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/devices/india-aims-for-35-of-global-mobile-production-with-pli-20/130222901
https://www.ibef.org/news/mobile-phone-production-to-reach-us-75-billion-by-fy26-end-icea
https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2247771&reg=3&lang=1
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https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/economicsurvey/doc/eschapter/echap08.pdf