India overtakes Japan to become world's second largest smartphone maker

With mobile devices continue to grow both in terms of design and specifications, India has now overtaken Japan and South Korea to become world's second-largest smartphone maker after China. As a result, the Indian market is now filled with a slew of new brands and different types of smartphones.

As per information shared by Indian Cellular Association with Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, India has now emerged as the second largest producer of mobile handsets by volume.

Talking about the major milestone, being achieved by India, ICA National President Pankaj Mohindroo said, "We are happy to inform you that with the strenuous and calibrated efforts of the government of India, ICA and FTTF, India has now emerged as the second largest producer of mobile handset by volume."

ICA referred to data available from market research firm IHS, China's National Bureau of Statistics and Vietnam General Statistics Office.

According to the data shared by ICA, annual production of mobile phones in India increased from 3 million units in 2014 to 11 million units in 2017.

In 2017, India replaced Vietnam to become the second largest producer of mobile phones across the globe.

There are almost 100 mobile device brands sold in India, with more manufacturers making an entry in the industry with each passing day. Samsung and Xiaomi are said to be among top five vendors in the industry and witnessed a strong and consistent growth in Q3 2017.

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With the rise in mobile phone production, imports of the devices in the country also reduced to less than half in 2017-18.

"We are also happy to inform you that our completely build units as a percentage of the domestic market has now come down from 78 per cent (2014-15) to 18 per cent (2017-18)," Mohindroo said.

The fast track task Force, a body under Ministry of Electronics and IT, has set the target to achieve around 500 million mobile phone productions in India by 2019, with a value estimated to be around USD 46 billion.

The FTTF, which has members from industry and government, has set the target to create USD 8 billion component manufacturing as result of growth in mobile phone production and create 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs by 2019.

The body has set the target to export 120 million mobile phone units with an estimated value of USD 1.5 million by the end of next year.

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"As long as we bring the right focus on exports, we will be able to achieve these numbers," Mohindroo said.

(With inputs from agencies)