Mobile Phone Exports, India Bucks Global Trend But Needs To Offer More Policy Support

Mumbai
As global demand recedes with recessionary trends rising, the spurt in India’s exports over the past two years is also gradually subsiding. A plateau was reached in July last year but the past five months have shown a consistent decline. This is a worrying phenomenon but tempered by the fact that exports of electronic goods especially mobile phones are showing a contrary trend. In fact, phone exports are set to virtually double in fiscal 2023 despite the demand slump witnessed in the country’s key markets of Europe and the US. The question is whether this is just a flash in the pan or whether this will continue on a sustained long-term basis. The first conclusion one must draw from the surge in mobile phone exports is that this represents a successful outcome of the production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes. The PLI scheme is designed to provide incentives on incremental sales of goods manufactured in selected sectors. It was launched initially for electronics and mobile phones and the focus has been on increasing domestic production of components while trying to generate more jobs. It has now been expanded to cover as many as 13 industries considered to have the potential of becoming world-class manufacturers and exporters.