Union Health Minister and BJP national president J. P. Nadda on Wednesday, 15 July 2026 announced that the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) with a total outlay of ₹62,500 crore to accelerate India's electronics manufacturing ambitions.

Context

The MPMS is a five-year scheme running from FY 2026-27 to FY 2030-31. Announcing the Cabinet decision, Nadda said the scheme will 'boost mobile phone manufacturing, domestic value addition, supply chains, and Indian brands through incentives for production, domestic sourcing, and design and R&D.' The scheme targets ₹39 lakh crore in cumulative mobile phone production and the creation of 60,000 direct jobs over its tenure.

Nadda framed the approval as a direct extension of PM Modi's Make in India vision, noting that India today 'not only meets its domestic mobile phone requirements but also caters to growing global demand.'

Policy Backdrop

The MPMS builds on the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing, first notified in 2020, which drew global contract manufacturers to India and raised domestic value addition in handset assembly. That earlier scheme is widely credited with transforming India from a net importer of mobile phones to a significant exporter.

Successive iterations of production-linked incentives have progressively deepened supply-chain localisation — from final assembly toward components and sub-assemblies. The MPMS extends this logic by explicitly including design and R&D incentives, signalling an ambition to move up the value chain beyond contract manufacturing toward home-grown product development.

The broader policy context is the government's Viksit Bharat 2047 framework, which envisions India as a fully developed economy by the centenary of its independence. Electronics manufacturing, particularly mobile phones, has been identified as a key pillar of that roadmap.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the MPMS are expected to be electronics manufacturers — both established global players with India operations and emerging domestic brands seeking scale. Incentives for 'domestic sourcing' are specifically designed to pull component suppliers deeper into the local ecosystem, reducing dependence on imports from China and other markets.

For mobile industry workers, the stated target of 60,000 direct jobs represents a significant formal-employment commitment. Indirect employment across logistics, retail, and component supply chains is expected to be a multiple of that figure, though the government has not specified an indirect-jobs estimate in this announcement.

Indian brands stand to benefit from the design and R&D incentive component, which could help domestic labels compete more credibly against established global names in premium and mid-range segments.

What's Next

The Cabinet approval marks the policy decision; detailed operational guidelines, incentive disbursement mechanisms, and first-year production targets are expected to be notified separately after the scheme is formally gazetted in 2026. Industry bodies and prospective applicants will watch closely for eligibility criteria, especially the thresholds for 'domestic value addition' that will determine who qualifies for the higher incentive tiers.

With the scheme window opening in FY 2026-27, India's stated goal of cementing its position as a global mobile manufacturing and export hub will face its first real test in how quickly manufacturers commit fresh capital and begin scaling production under the new framework.