Even as the Covid-19 vaccination programme is yet to gather pace in India, the country’s exports of electronics goods have a different story to tell. Slowdown marred electronic goods’ exports have not just recovered from the Covid-19 slumber but have swelled to an all-time high tally with a whopping Rs 8,806 crore sales recorded in the month of December 2020.
According to the latest data released by the commerce ministry, among the electronic goods’ exports mobile phones remained the top contributor with exports worth Rs 3,061 crore – or roughly 35% of total electronics exports – which though is still to reach pre-Covid levels which were as high as Rs 3,254 crore.
Although for 2020, the electronics exports have declined 4.32% to Rs 73,132 crore following a lockdown in place in the month of March and April with 45 no production days, the imports of electronic goods have swelled to Rs 3.5 lakh crore. India mostly imports components required to assemble electronic goods which are then exported.
According to commerce ministry data, besides smartphones, exports of electronics goods including computers/laptops, electric inverters, transformers, battery chargers, scanners, printers, speakers, TVs, base stations and microprocessors have also gone up.
The National Policy on Electronics 2019 envisages the total production of electronics in India to the tune of $400 billion by 2025. Close to $190 billion, or 48% of this is expected to come from mobile phones as per official figures.
As per estimates, 13% of this target production can be achieved from laptops, tablets or PCs and another 22% from industrial electronics. The mobile handset production is already catching up to targeted levels with production in FY21 estimated to be Rs 2.14 lakh crore the laptops and PC segment is yet to catch up to the new order.
The government data shows that among all electronics goods, laptops/tablets/PCs are among the largest category of imported products valued at close to Rs 30,000 crore while exports remained as low as Rs 122 crore during the calendar year 2020.
Beginning April 1, 2021, the Union government has announced a production-linked incentive scheme for ICT hardware with a total outlay of Rs 7,350 crore over a four-year period which is expected to generate incremental production of Rs 3.26 lakh crore, 75% of which will be for exports.
