Foxconn, Samsung, others target exports worth $100 billion from India

The empowered group has approved applications by iPhone contract makers Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron, along with Samsung, Karbonn, Lava and Dixon to export mobile phones worth around $100 billion or Rs 7.3 lakh crore from India. All the applications -- under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme -- will be put before the cabinet this week.

Niti Aayog CEO, secretaries of economic affairs, expenditure, revenue, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) are part of the empowered group that approved the applications.

According to a report in The Economic Times, five of the applicants are overseas companies, while seven are Indian and six are in the components manufacturing scheme. Samsung and Apple have submitted production estimates of phones worth $50 billion each in the next five years.

Communications & IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that the "extraordinary" response to the PLI shows the enormous trust of the global community in India's manufacturing capability and leadership of PM Modi.

The PLI scheme aims to make India the manufacturing hub for smartphones. After the scheme was announced Apple started producing its latest models iPhone 11 and iPhone SE shortly after in India. The scheme also aims to attract manufacturers who are looking to move out of China amid the China-US trade tensions.

Foxconn and Wistron already have plants in India. Pegatron is looking to set up factories in states like Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Samsung that exports around $2.5 billion phones from India is all set to ramp up its production to $50 billion in the next five years.

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