Govt celebrates 12 years of make in India, Ashwini Vaishnaw says smartphone manufacturing is growing

Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced that the Indian smartphone manufacturing ecosystem is going to grow further. His announcement comes as the government celebrates 12 years of the Make in India scheme.

In Short

• Vaishnaw said India is moving beyond assembly into core smartphone inputs
• Battery cells, synthetic graphite and electrolyte additives are now planned locally
• Acetylene black and other battery materials will also be produced domestically

On September 25, 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Make in India initiative at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. Now 12 years later, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced that the smartphone manufacturing ecosystem is only going to grow further.

In a thread posted on X, Vaishnaw gave an update on smartphone manufacturing in India. Going forward, he said, the country was planning to focus deeper into what goes inside a smartphone. “India already makes the phone. Now, we’re going deeper – manufacturing what goes inside it. #12YearsOfMakeInIndia,” he wrote.

A smartphone, or any other electronic device, is made up of hundreds of different components. Usually, facilities assemble these components – along with some manufacturing – to create the final device that you buy. Ashwini Vaishnaw added that India was now “making more of the parts and materials that go inside it.”

Over the years, India has become a major manufacturing hub for smartphones. As per the official government figures, India is now the second-largest phone maker in the world, with about 330 million phones being made annually. In FY2023-24, 99.2 per cent of all mobile phones sold in India were made locally, up from 26 per cent a decade ago.

India to make more components for smartphones

A key focus for local manufacturing was for batteries. The union minister explained that manufacturing facilities in India were now going to expand in this area. “Battery cells are being made in India now. And now, we’re going inside the battery cell itself,” Vaishnaw wrote. He named the Japanese company ATL’s battery cell facility in Manesar, Haryana. ATL’s total investment for this facility is set at Rs 3,000 crore.

But Ashwini Vaishnaw added that India was also going to make more layers that go inside a battery, such as synthetic graphite used in lithium-ion cells. “Synthetic graphite, used in the anode. Now, this too will be made in India,” he added.

Sticking to lithium-ion batteries, Vaishnaw added, “There’s liquid inside a Li-ion battery. It needs special additives that help the battery perform better and last longer.” This too, he said, will now be made in India.

The same goes for other materials such as acetylene black. Ashwini Vaishnaw wrote, “A material like acetylene black which helps electricity flow better inside the battery, will be made here.” However, batteries are simply part of the entire manufacturing ecosystem. Vaishnaw added that more components were now being made locally. This included cameras, displays, speakers, coils, PCBs, and more.

Ashwini Vaishnaw’s remarks come about a month after the government announced the Rs 62,500 crore Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS). The scheme is aimed at incentivising manufacturing in India while supporting Indian smartphone brands. The scheme will run for five years from FY 2026-27 to FY 2030-31, with incentives ranging from 2.25 per cent to 5 per cent for manufacturing. Indian brands get a 5 per cent incentive with an additional 3 per cent for Indian design and R&D.

In recent months, we have also seen new Indian brands enter the smartphone segment, including Mivi and Boltt. London-based phonemaker Nothing has also announced plans to turn its spin-off brand CMF into a standalone Indian company. Indian manufacturer Optiemus has acquired a majority stake in CMF.

Coming to global brands. Apple in particular, has expanded manufacturing in India over the years. India is now the largest exporter of smartphones to the US, largely driven by iPhones. The iPhone 18 Pro series is also being made in India from day 1, with about 80 to 90 per cent reportedly for exports. Globally, 1 in every 4 iPhones is made in India as per reports.

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