← External Forces: Digital & Technology (all topics)
Assembly localisation & value addition
What it is
PLI has moved mobile phone and electronics assembly to India at scale, making phones a leading export category. But assembly captures a thin slice of device value while displays, chips and camera modules remain imported
Local value-addition thresholds in PLI schemes are designed to force the chain deeper
Impact on industries
- Mobile phone exports have become a genuine success, converting India from an importer to a significant exporter within a few years
- Thin assembly value addition means the trade and employment benefit is far smaller than output figures suggest, since components are imported
- Brand customer concentration is severe - a handful of global brands drive most volume and can relocate assembly on cost or policy grounds
- Rising value-addition thresholds and the components scheme push manufacturing upstream, though online discounting compresses margins across the device chain