Iphone: Apple to may make 18% of iPhones in India by the fiscal year 2025: Report – Times of India

India production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile phones appears to be working well. According to a report from Bank of America (BofA), India might soon grab a larger slice of Apple’s global iPhone production. The report suggests that the mobile phone PLI scheme can boost India’s target of trebling domestic production, with Apple already doubling down on its investments in the country.
The report further notes that the scheme might drive Cupertino giant to shift at least 18% of its global iPhone production to India by the fiscal year 2025. “Apple’s share may expand further if larger scale incentivizes its vendors to also expand in India. Apple could also see share gains (4% now) within India’s mobile phone market on improving affordability of locally made iPhones and shift in favour of premium products. We see India contributing >5% of Apple’s global iPhone sales by CY25 & register 21% CAGR over CY22-25,” the report forecasts.
That number may climb if the more extensive scale incentivises Apple’s vendors to also expand in the country. This can contribute to increasing domestic production to $126 billion and achieving five-fold growth in exports to $55 billion by FY26, according to the BofA report.
Apple and Samsung one of the biggest contributors to make in India story
Samsung and contract manufacturer of Apple contributed around 80% of India’s $11 billion mobile phone exports in the FY23. Mobile phones are 21.5% of India’s electronics domestic demand pie and are growing faster at 15% CAGR. The report said that mobiles’ PLI scheme, among other policies to fix India’s production cost gap vs peers, is already a success. Since FY17, mobile phones production/exports are up 3.9x/65x, while imports are down to a third.
“We believe India can meet its ambitious target: 3x domestic production/5x exports at $126bn/$55bn, by FY26, which could help create a vendor ecosystem overtime. Policy stability, labour productivity and last mile connectivity, are key factors to watch out for,” said the report.