The Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) has conducted an assessment of the Smartphone PLI scheme initiated by the government of India in April 2020. 

The Scheme & Metrics 
The scheme aimed to incentivize smartphone production in India. A total of 10 companies- 5 domestic & 5 International were chosen to lead the initiative while the total financial outlay of the scheme stood at 40,951 Crore which was later changed to Rs 38,601 Crore. 

As per the assessment, the industry produced goods worth Rs 12.55 Lakh Crores contributing Rs 1.10 Lakh  Crore to the government exchequer between FY21-FY24 for which the government disbursed Rs 5,800 Crore in incentives. Hence the government earned a revenue of Rs 1,04,200 Crore through the project. 

Besides, the duties paid on mobile components went to Rs 48,000 Crore & incremental GST went to Rs 62,000 Crore. 

Success of the Scheme 
Among the foreign companies, only Apple’s contract manufacturers including Foxconn, the Tatas (Wistron),  & Pegatron followed by South Korean electronics giant Samsung have been able to meet targets and receive the incentives.  Among the domestic companies chosen only Dixon Technologies has been able to meet the targets in order to receive the incentives. 

Other companies that have not been able to meet targets to receive incentives include Foxconn Unit Rising Star, Lava International, Optiemus Electronics, Padget (Micromax), and UTL Neolync.  

A Massive Success 
“We have exceeded all policy objectives — jobs, revenue, exports, FDI and value addition. We are hopeful that the upcoming budget will drive greater competitiveness, consistent with PM’s $500-billion production target by 2030,” said Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman of ICEA.

Since the launch of the scheme, the mobile phone industry has created nearly 300,000 direct jobs and 600,000 indirect jobs within the smartphone ecosystem. At the same time, cumulative smartphone exports during the four-year PLI period reached Rs 2,87,000 crore, propelling India’s export ranking from 23rd place in FY19 to becoming the third-largest individual commodity by the end of the last fiscal year.

Final Value Addition 
The assessment also notes that the value addition for smartphones in India has increased from an average of 12% five years ago to nearly 20% today.  According to the industry, India's value addition growth is outpacing China and Vietnam at the same stage of their electronics manufacturing expansion.