India reduces mobilephone imports by 64% in 3 years

Chennai: India is closer to achieving self-sufficiency in meeting domestic demand for mobile phones on the back of rising domestic production and falling imports. Both the quantity and value of feature phones and smartphones (including accessories) imported by India declined significantly in the past three years, data filed by the commerce ministry in Rajya Sabha last week showed.

Importing around 270 lakh units in 2018-19, India has managed to reduce import of mobile devices by 64% from 758 lakh in 2016-17. The value of such imports declined almost 57% from 2016-17 to 2018-19 to record at $1,616 million.

The domestic demand for mobile phones for 2018-19 stood at around 290 million units, as per India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) estimates. Presenting the data,