India Records $2.5 Billion Apple Component Exports to China Amid ECMS Boost

There has been a meteoric rise in the amount of electronics sent from India to China. This expansion is being propelled by Apple's component manufacturing strategy. In a shift away from previous tendencies, Indian vendors are increasingly shipping components to China. Overall, India's exports to China are predicted to see a significant boost due to this trend.

This achievement exemplifies how government programmes have influenced the electronics industry. Vendors who supplied Apple with parts and pieces sent a record $2.5 billion to China in fiscal year 26. According to officials and executives in the business, this spike shows that the government's electronics component manufacturing scheme (ECMS), which was announced last year, is already having an impact. It was also the beginning of a shift in the opposite direction from what had previously been the norm, with Chinese merchants sending components for electronics to India.

India Inching Ahead of China

Industry insiders predict that India's electronics exports to China will hit $3.5 billion in FY26, up from $2.8 billion as of January. Prior to FY25, shipments of electronics to China were nil. In FY25, the quantity increased to almost $920 million. Indian exports to China are projected to surpass $18 billion as data from other industries becomes available for FY26.

In FY25, it was $14.25 billion. The surge in electronics exports to China, according to experts, is a pleasant surprise that came about as a result of the ECMS and the smartphone production-linked incentive (PLI) plan. As a result, Apple decided to establish a local ecosystem in India, and now it's competitive enough to produce components and subassemblies that India can send to China.

During the five-year smartphone PLI plan, Apple made $70 billion worth of iPhones; roughly 73%, or $51 billion, were exported, with the majority going to the US. As a result, iPhones were India's most valuable export last fiscal year.

Apple Vendors Driving the Surge in Exports

Among the Indian Apple vendors who propelled exports to China, according to a data-tracking industry, were Foxconn, Tata Electronics, Tata-owned Pegatron, Motherson, Salcomp, TRIL Bangalore, and Yuzhan Technology. Components include mechanics, housing, flex PCBAs, conductive graphite buttons (for power and volume, for example), and printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs).

Since Apple manufactures the iPhone in India, the smartphone PLI scheme has been a huge success; ECMS plans to do the same with components. The government is currently concentrating on growing domestic value addition, manufacture, and exports of components under ECMS after gaining success in smartphone manufacturing.

Industry has also been looking for a PLI 2.0 to keep the momentum going since the smartphone programme expired in March. With the help of PLI 2.0 and ECMS, Indian enterprises have the potential to become a major player in the electronics supply chain. Hence, accounting for 30–35% of worldwide mobile phone production. Component makers may find that China, the country from which India imports the vast majority of its electronics, becomes an attractive export market.