The Indian Cellular Association, which bands some 20 handset makers such as Nokia and Motorola Inc, expects Indians to buy 4.4 mn mobile phones in 2002 and 9.5 mn units next year.\n\n\n\n
App-based communication services providers and Indian telcos are at loggerheads over the SIM-binding directions issued by the department of telecom, which are to be complied with by the end of February 2026.
'Instead of the government and telecom operators solving the mess of their own creation, they're telling us we need to give access to our phones perpetually.'
Smartphone exports for the first six months (April to September) of 2025-26 (FY26) surged to $13.4 billion, based on industry estimates. Driven by the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, this marks a 59 per cent jump over the $8.5 billion exported during the same period of the previous financial year (2024-25/FY25).
Nokia, on its part, insisted that its batteries were tested against internationally-recognised quality standards, suggesting that the faulty batteries could be counterfeits.
The first national flag in Independent India was hoisted at Fort St George in Madras, not at Delhi's Red Fort.
There's no change in Apple Inc's India strategy, said a top government source. 'It can only be enhanced'.
India's smartphone exports have set a new benchmark, surging past the $2 billion mark in October - the highest monthly total ever recorded. This milestone, according to estimates from the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), an industry body representing both global and domestic mobile device manufacturers, underscores the country's growing prominence in global mobile supply chains.
Worried about the increasing loss every year to users, the Indian Cellular Association has recommended to the government that it should play an active role in this scenario.
In 2023, the share of US electronics imports from India was a mere 1.9 per cent of the $520 billion they imported, while the total Indian electronics exports to the US was pegged at only $10 billion.
Standing near the noose, he recited a couplet in which he said he wished nothing but to sacrifice his life for the motherland. Utkarsh Mishra remembers Ram Prasad Bismil on the revolutionary leader's 128th birth anniversary.
Goods and services tax (GST) collections from mobile device companies, amounting to Rs 1.82 trillion between 2020-21 (FY21) and 2023-24 (FY24), have already generated more than five times the revenue for the government compared to the Rs 34,149 crore allocated under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile devices over six years ending 2025-26 (FY26). Currently, the GST on mobile devices stands at 18 per cent.
Canadian company dismisses series of charges levelled by cellular majors
Consumers would soon have to shell out more to buy mobile phones, TV sets, cameras, laptops and other consumer electronic goods.
According to the ICA, the demand for mobile handsets in the country is expected to grow at 10 to 12 per cent per annum and will touch 280 million units by 2015.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram is banking on the aspirations of people to own a swanky new mobile phone to boost the government's indirect tax revenue in the next financial year.
Mobile handsets without the unique identification number, which helps authorities track users, will face disconnections by December 1, Indian Cellular Association said on Wednesday.The International Mobile Equipment Identification (IMEI) is a 15-digit code that identifies a handset and enables security agencies to track down users.
On September 3, department of telecommunication had directed that all handsets without IMEI numbers be banned with effect from December 1, 2009.
According to research firm IDC, China shipped 85 million GSM handsets in the last fiscal. And it says China's percentage share is likely to go up since these phones offer swanky features ranging from 3 megapixel camera, terrestrial TV, music and MP3 players.
Smartphones have been a key success story of the government's production-linked incentive scheme, helping India become the second-largest mobile phone manufacturing country, after China.
A day ahead of the interim Budget, India slashed import duty on spare parts, like battery cover, lens and SIM socket, used in mobile phone manufacturing to 10 per cent, from 15 per cent. The duty cut is aimed at boosting local production and exports, as well as reducing prices in local markets. The finance ministry on January 30, notified the cut in duty on all goods for use in manufacture of cellular mobile phones to 10 per cent.
If you buy a mobile phone worth Rs 4,000 today, you will be paying about 123 per cent of the cost of the mobile (which works out to Rs 4,942) as tax to the government over the next four years.
India is far behind global competitors such as Vietnam, Taiwan, and Mexico in increasing electronics exports to the US by making the most of Washington's tariff action against China. In 2018, the US imposed a 25 per cent punitive duty on a range of Chinese electronics items. The trade duties led to a sharp fall in Chinese electronics exports to the US from $207 billion in 2018 to $140.2 billion in 2019, down 32 per cent, according to Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) data, which has been analysed by ITC Trade Map.
Shah said the decision was taken to free the nation from colonial imprints as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands had an "unparalleled place" in the country's freedom struggle and history.
Exports of electronics goods has risen by 24 per cent from April to November as compared with the same period in the last fiscal, the largest increase out of India's top 10 export categories. The increase has been propelled by mobile exports under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and has pushed electronics up from sixth to fifth position in the top 10. A gap of $200 million separates electronics from occupying the fourth position, currently held by drugs and pharmaceuticals at $17.9 billion.
At present, 70% of the mobile handsets sold in India are imported.
The government has asked industry to provide a list of Chinese suppliers that would like to shift some capacity to India provided they are willing to set up JVs with Indian companies.
Foundries in Taiwan account for more than 75 per cent of the chips that mobile devices made in India need, according to estimates by the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), which represents global and domestic manufacturers. The number is slightly lower, 60 per cent, if one considers all chips -- those of consumer electronics, PCs, laptops, autos, etc. This ties in with the fact that foundries in Taiwan, led by TSMC, account for over 70 per cent of the world's microchip supply, according to estimates by Gartner.
The government has notified mandatory standards for 15 electronic products, including mobile phones, power banks, LED lamps, to curb flow of low quality items in the country.
Only one in five handsets sold in India this year is likely to be made locally.
Despite the robust growth in this country, Apple's India share in its overall global sales remained modest -- constituting 1.5 per cent of its overall turnover of $389 billion in FY23.
The government has prohibited imports of all kind of mobile handsets with fake or duplicate unique identity numbers, a move that will help security agencies in tracking callers using different SIM cards.
Online booking started on February 18 but the site soon crashed.
Apple Inc has requested the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) to give it 18 to 24 months' exemption to comply with the European Union (EU) regulation of putting an USB charging port in all its older smartphones, mainly iPhone 13 and iPhone 14, which are assembled, exported and also sold in the domestic market. Apple's stance is different from that of Samsung, which has been pushing for an immediate implementation of the EU regulation. All smartphones by the South Korean giant already comply with the EU rules.
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