Apple and Samsung are expected to manufacture / assemble smartphones worth $5 billion (nearly Rs 37,000 crore) in the financial year 2021-22 – utilizing the production-linked incentive scheme (PLI) for electronics manufacturing, IANS reported.

The two giants are set to surpass the PLI targets set by the government by over 50 percent, according to industry experts.

“The leading global value chains (GVC) firms have got off to a blazing start. Besides Pegatron and Bharat FIH which are now gearing up, the big three — Wistron, Pegatron and Samsung — will achieve significant production of $5 billion in 2022,” Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman of the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), said.

Apple’s contract manufacturers in India — Foxconn and Wistron — will avail the PLI incentives for the first time this year.

The iPhone maker’s second biggest global manufacturer Pegatron is likely to commence operations in India this year.

Samsung, which has the world’s largest mobile handset manufacturing factory in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, will avail the incentives under the scheme for the second year.

Indian players like Lava, Padget Electronics (Dixon) and UTL appear to be cracking the thresholds, while Opteimus and Bhagwati are gearing up, Mohindroo said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last year extended the PLI scheme for large-scale electronics manufacturing with a focus on mobile phones by a year until 2025-26, though the base year of the scheme 2019-20 remains the same.

The PLI scheme provides an incentive of 4-6 percent on incremental sales of goods under target segments that are manufactured in India, for five years.

Apple and Samsung are also exporting locally-produced smartphones to the world like never before.

In 2021, the top countries that Make in India iPhones were exported to include the UK (27 percent), Japan (24 percent), the Netherlands (23 percent), Germany (7 percent), Italy (4 percent), Turkey (4 percent) and the UAE (2 percent), according to data by market research firm CMR.

The top countries that Samsung exported to from India in 2021 include the UAE (47 percent), Russia (12 percent), South Africa (7 percent), Germany (5 percent), Morocco (4 percent) and the UK (3 percent).

Apple’s share of iPhone exports from India stands at more than 4.6 million units in 2021, with exports to Europe, Japan and the Middle East, among others.

Over the past four years, Apple’s share of make-in-India iPhones has grown 15 times to reach 75 percent in 2021, Ram said.

Apple has now started assembling its new flagship iPhone 13 in India. iPhone 13 is being assembled on trial basis at the Foxconn plant in Chennai, and will be available in the domestic market, as well as for exports from the country by early next year.

Apple is reportedly ramping up production of iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other devices in India and Vietnam to end its dependence on China.

The tech giant is already assembling its highest-selling models iPhone 12, iPhone 11 and XR in India, along with iPhone SE, 7 and 6S. Apple started manufacturing iPhones in India in 2017 with iPhone SE.