US biggest export destination for Indian smartphones in April-May

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

The smartphone exports to the U.S. 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 U.S. accounted for one-third of the shipments in value terms.

The U.S. was followed by the UAE ($484.52 million), the Netherlands ($205 million), the U.K. ($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% 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 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 U.S. is the most dominant market for India with $1.3 billion during the two months, though the growth declined by about 23%.

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. PTI