India Records INR 2 Trillion iPhone Exports in CY25, Marking First Such Surge Since 2021

In 2025, Apple's iPhone exports from India surpassed INR 2 trillion for the first time since the company began manufacturing there in 2021. According to data supplied by vendors to both federal and state governments, its exports from January to December 2025 hit a record $23 billion (or INR 2.03 trillion), up over 85% from the same period in 2024. Up until 2024, Apple's primary goal under India's production-linked incentive system (PLI) was to increase iPhone exports. Every year, exports rose.

From INR 8,800 crore in 2021 to INR 36,234 crore in 2022, Apple raised it. That more than doubled to INR 74,000 crore in 2023. Exports reached INR 1.1 trillion in 2024. Following the PLI plan, Apple entered India in 2020 with two vendors, Foxconn and Wistron. The epidemic and the border dispute with China caused a one-year delay, but in 2021 the company started manufacturing iPhones, mostly for export.

Apple’s Great Shift from China to India

Commencing in 2020, concurrent with Apple's supply chain restructuring away from China, anticipation arose regarding the relocation of numerous suppliers from mainland China to India. Despite the limitations, the government even let 14 of its Chinese suppliers to invest in India. However, Apple started integrating Indian enterprises into its supply chain in 2023 after recognising the geopolitical tension and the government's desire to create a supply chain that would empower and skill Indian companies.

Although it was a difficult choice, the transfer of technology and the acquisition of skills would greatly assist the Indian ecosystem, particularly micro, small, and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs). When the Tata group took over Wistron's Karnataka iPhone plant in 2023, they became the first to join the ecosystem. Later on, it bought a sizeable portion of Pegatron's Tamil Nadu iPhone plant. Since 2024, numerous Indian businesses—many of them MSMEs—have joined the Apple supply chain as suppliers of sub-assemblies and components. Motherson, Hindalco, Wipro Pari, Jabil, Aequs, SFO Technologies, and Bharat Forge are notable examples of them. In India, its suppliers are dispersed over eight states.

Govt Backing Smartphone Manufacturing

Value addition in smartphones has grown significantly over the past four years, reaching 19% by the middle of last year, according to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. In the 18 years since the smartphone was first manufactured in China in 2007, this represents almost half of the 40–45% value addition that China has managed to achieve.

An important step in this way is the government's recently introduced Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme. Over the following four years, value addition is anticipated to rise to around 30%. This new programme involves a number of Apple vendors. Along with smartphones, which are currently the most popular exports, the programme is also anticipated to boost component exports from India, which rose from 167th place in 2015 to the top spot.