NEW DELHI, October 28, 2026 – Rebutting criticism against the central government’s subsidy-driven manufacturing push, Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday asserted that the government has collected a staggering Rs 3.25 lakh crore in taxes from the mobile phone industry against the Rs 19,000 crore doled out under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
Sharing data on the microblogging platform X, Vaishnaw provided a stark numerical contrast to defend the financial viability of the scheme. According to the statistics shared by the Minister, the government disbursed Rs 19,000 crore in incentives to smartphone manufacturers and, in return, collected Rs 25,000 crore in direct taxes and an overwhelming Rs 3 lakh crore via the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from the sector’s beneficiaries.
The Minister’s sharp post was a direct response to a media opinion video that highlighted alleged drawbacks of India’s subsidy-driven electronics push. The video claimed that the import of components was costing the Indian exchequer more than the financial gains accrued from exporting finished mobile phones built with taxpayer-funded subsidies, comparing the situation unfavorably with the self-sustaining ecosystem in China.
Dismissing the criticism, Vaishnaw highlighted the immense employment generation tied to the sector, writing: “Electronics manufacturing employs 25 Lakh people; mobile manufacturing alone employs 12 Lakh. Cope harder!!”
Official government data released in March 2025 backs the Minister’s claims of a booming sector. India exported mobile phones worth Rs 2 lakh crore in the 2025 fiscal year. More significantly, mobile phone imports have plunged from a massive 75 percent of domestic demand ten years ago to a near-negligible 0.02 percent in 2024-25.
The overall production of electronic goods in the country has witnessed a six-fold jump, reaching approximately Rs 11.3 lakh crore in 2024-25, compared to just Rs 1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15. During the same 10-year period, domestic mobile phone production rocketed from Rs 0.18 lakh crore to around Rs 5.5 lakh crore, while exports of electronic goods increased eightfold to Rs 3.3 lakh crore.
Looking to the future, the government has recently rolled out the Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) with an expanded total incentive outlay of Rs 62,500 crore. The new scheme aims to develop fully indigenous Indian smartphone brands—designed and manufactured domestically—with Vaishnaw setting a target timeline of October 2028 to achieve this goal.
Published by True Roots Media Network