US biggest export destination for Indian smartphones in April-May: Govt data

New Delhi: India exported $2.43 billion worth of smartphones in April-May this fiscal, driven by a multifold jump in shipments to the US which emerged as the biggest destination for India-made devices, according to the government data.

The smartphone exports to the US jumped multiple times to $812.49 million during the first two months of this fiscal as against $92.2 million in April-May 2022-23, the commerce ministry data showed. The US accounted for one-third of the shipments in value terms.

The US was followed by the UAE ($ 484.52 million), the Netherlands ($ 205 million), the UK ($ 151.33 million), Italy ($ 136.57 million), and the Czech Republic ($ 115.5 million). Overall India's export of smartphones in 2022-23 was worth $ 10.95 billion. During April-May 2023-24, smartphone exports soared by 157.82 per cent over April-May 2022-23.

Prior to 2022-23, the smartphone exports were non-existent so the data was not captured. After the announcement of the Product Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme and the entry of US-based iPhone maker Apple into domestic manufacturing, India is emerging as a major production hub for smartphones.

For diamonds also, the US is the most dominant market for India with $1.3 billion during the two months, though the growth declined by about 23 per cent. For manufacturing electronic goods for exports and meeting domestic demand, India imported $1.85 billion worth of monolithic integrated circuits of which $ 597.89 million came from China.

Other sources of these circuits were Ireland ($ 258 million), Hong Kong ($ 255.45 million), Taiwan ($ 204.38 million) and Singapore ($ 162.35 million). In 2022-23, the total imports of integrated circuits were $ 10.23 billion.