12 years of Make in India: Why electronics and Semicon could define the next phase

Twelve years after Make in India was launched, electronics has emerged as one of the clearest examples of how India's manufacturing ambitions have changed. The focus is no longer only on making finished products. The bigger push is towards components, domestic value addition, semiconductor capabilities and building supply chains that can support production at scale.

The numbers show how far the electronics sector has moved.

According to the Press Information Bureau (PIB), India's electronics production increased nearly sevenfold from around Rs 1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15 to around Rs 13.11 lakh crore in 2025-26. Mobile phone production grew around 32 times during the same period, from about Rs 18,900 crore to around Rs 6.3 lakh crore.

Electronics production also grew 15.8% in 2025-26 over the previous year. India is now the world's second-largest mobile phone manufacturer by volume, according to the PIB release.

From mobile assembly to a deeper electronics ecosystem

The mobile phone story is an important part of the Make in India journey. The increase from Rs 18,900 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 6.3 lakh crore in 2025-26 points to a major expansion in India's mobile manufacturing base.

But the next phase is about what happens inside that manufacturing ecosystem.

The PIB release notes that India's manufacturing capabilities are increasingly extending into components, systems and assemblies used in complex products. That shift matters for electronics because deeper local manufacturing can help move the industry beyond final assembly towards greater domestic value creation.

The newly approved Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) is aimed at this next stage. The scheme has an allocation of Rs 62,500 crore for FY2026-27 to FY2030-31. Its stated objectives include scaling up mobile phone production, deepening domestic value addition, strengthening supply-chain resilience and improving global competitiveness.

For Rajeev Singh, Managing Director, BenQ India & South Asia, this marks an important change in the nature of India's technology manufacturing journey.

“Twelve years into Make in India, the nature of building a technology business in the country has evolved significantly. What began with a strong focus on local manufacturing, cost and compliance is increasingly about capability, resilience and value creation. Supplier ecosystems are becoming deeper, local manufacturing capabilities are expanding, and India is playing a larger role in global technology value chains. For companies like BenQ, this evolution is creating greater opportunities to localise production, strengthen supply chains and develop products with a closer understanding of Indian consumers and institutions. Today, around half of our interactive flat panel business comes from products made in India, while our overall localisation is expected to increase from around 25% today to close to 40% over the next two years. The next phase will be about moving beyond assembly towards greater local engineering, innovation and value creation.”

Semiconductors become the next test

The other major part of the story is semiconductors.

The PIB release highlights the development of VIKRAM3201 and KALPANA3201 microprocessors by ISRO and SCL for space applications. VIKRAM3201 is described as the first fully Make-in-India microprocessor qualified for the harsh conditions of launch vehicles and was fabricated at SCL's facility. KALPANA3201 has been designed to work with open-source software tools and has been tested with flight software.

This is significant because it shows the direction of the policy push: building capability not only in finished electronics but also in the technologies and components that sit underneath them.

The next major step is Semicon 2.0.

Approved in July 2026, Semicon 2.0 has an allocation of Rs 1,27,500 crore. The programme covers semiconductor design, manufacturing, advanced packaging, materials, equipment, research and talent development.

That wider scope is important. A semiconductor ecosystem needs more than fabrication capacity. It also needs design capability, packaging, equipment, materials and skilled people. The PIB release positions Semicon 2.0 as a long-term effort to support these areas.

PLI is turning production into an export story

The Production Linked Incentive schemes are another important part of the manufacturing push.

PLI schemes currently cover 14 sectors. According to the PIB release, as of June 2026 they had attracted Rs 2.6 lakh crore in investment and generated Rs 23.8 lakh crore in production and sales.

More importantly for India's position in global technology supply chains, the schemes supported more than Rs 15.5 lakh crore in exports and created 14.6 lakh jobs.

The export figure gives the PLI story a different dimension. The objective is not simply to increase domestic production. The larger ambition is to create manufacturing capacity that can serve markets outside India as well.

For electronics and mobile manufacturing, that distinction matters. Production at scale becomes more valuable when manufacturers can build products and components that are competitive in global markets.

Ravi Agarwal, Founder and Managing Director, Cellecor Gadgets Limited, sees the next phase in terms of trust as much as production.

“Make in India has been the foundation of everything we've built at Cellecor and it starts with our people whose hard work has put affordable, well-made electronics into so many Indian homes. That's given us a strong base but I feel the real opportunity ahead is different from what got us here. The first decade was about proving we could make in India. The next one has to be about earning the world's trust so a product built in India is seen as genuinely dependable and not just competitively priced. That trust comes from consistency and from bringing in smarter technology like AI without losing what makes us different, which is affordability. So when I think about the next chapter for Make in India, I don't measure it by how much more we produce but by whether the world starts trusting India-made the way it trusts the best global brands.”

Basant Mehta, Founder, BlueBell Computers, shared his perspective, "The Make in India initiative, launched on September 25, 2014, has completed 12 years of transforming India’s industrial landscape. This project was well initiated & turned India into a global manufacturing and design hub & evolved our country from a manufacturing-led ambition into a broader effort to build globally competitive capabilities. However, its long-term success depends on continuous policy support and better execution."

He furthermore added some key points:

• Economic Growth & GDP: The initiative successfully drives industrial diversification and boosts the manufacturing sector's contribution to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): Streamlined regulations and improvements in to ease of doing business have significantly increased foreign and domestic capital inflows.
• Employment & Skilling: It has created substantial direct and indirect jobs, particularly in priority sectors like electronics, defence, and automobiles, while highlighting the continuous need for workforce skilling.
• Remaining Challenges: Structural bottlenecks—such as infrastructure gaps, high logistics costs, and intense global competition from other Asian economies—still require active mitigation.
• The Way Ahead: With targeted investments in research and development (R&D), stronger micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and green manufacturing, India can cement its position as a self-reliant global leader.

The next phase is about value, not just volume

The numbers from the past 12 years show a sharp rise in electronics and mobile production. But the direction of the newer schemes suggests that the next phase will be judged by how deeply India can build the technology ecosystem around that production.

The Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme is targeting higher domestic value addition and stronger supply chains. Semicon 2.0 is widening the semiconductor push across design, manufacturing, packaging, materials, equipment, research and talent.

PLI, meanwhile, has already supported more than Rs 15.5 lakh crore in exports across the covered sectors, alongside Rs 23.8 lakh crore in production and sales.

That makes the 12-year milestone less about looking back and more about understanding where manufacturing is heading next.

India has built scale in electronics and mobile phones. The next challenge is to deepen the ecosystem around that scale — and turn manufacturing capacity into greater domestic value creation and a stronger role in global technology supply chains.

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