India's electronics manufacturing sector has generated nearly 25 lakh jobs over the past decade while production has surged almost seven-fold, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said on Wednesday, 15 July. The figures, released by the ministry, frame the country's emergence as a global electronics manufacturing hub anchored by the Make in India initiative.

Scale of Growth

Electronics production climbed from ₹1.90 lakh crore in 2014-15 to an estimated ₹13.11 lakh crore in 2025-26 — nearly a seven-fold increase in just over a decade. Exports expanded even faster, rising from ₹38,263 crore to ₹4.24 lakh crore over the same period, an eleven-fold jump. Electronic goods have now become India's third-largest export category, with shipments reaching $47.96 billion in FY26.

Mobile phone manufacturing has been the standout performer. Production in the segment rose from ₹18,900 crore in FY15 to ₹6.27 lakh crore in FY26 — a 33-fold increase. Mobile exports recorded an even more striking 165-fold rise, from ₹1,566 crore to ₹2.60 lakh crore in the same period.

PLI Scheme's Catalytic Role

MeitY's flagship Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing has been central to this expansion. As of 31 March 2026, the scheme had attracted cumulative investments exceeding ₹20,600 crore, while cumulative production crossed ₹11.62 lakh crore and exports surpassed ₹6.53 lakh crore.

On the employment front, MeitY's flagship schemes have directly generated more than 5.3 lakh jobs — approximately 1.8 lakh under the PLI scheme alone and another 3.5 lakh through other major government initiatives. The broader mobile manufacturing ecosystem supports around 12 lakh direct and indirect jobs across the value chain.

Women at the Centre of the Workforce

Women have emerged as a defining feature of India's electronics workforce. They account for nearly 30 per cent of the total employment generated in electronics manufacturing over the last decade. In mobile phone manufacturing specifically, women constitute nearly 70 per cent of the direct workforce, making it one of India's most women-intensive manufacturing industries.

The PLI scheme alone has created employment opportunities for around 90,000 women. At one of India's largest electronics manufacturing campuses in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, thousands of young women are engaged in producing smartphones and electronic components for global markets. Across three major facilities operated by a leading electronics manufacturer at the campus, nearly 80,000 people are employed, with women constituting around 65 per cent of the workforce.

What This Signals for India's Industrial Trajectory

This comes amid intensifying global competition for electronics supply chain diversification, with multinationals actively seeking alternatives to China. India's combination of PLI incentives, a large labour pool, and improving infrastructure has positioned it to capture a growing share of that shift. Notably, the eleven-fold export surge indicates that India is no longer just assembling for domestic consumption — it is increasingly supplying global markets. The next phase will test whether the sector can move up the value chain from assembly into component manufacturing and semiconductor integration.