IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw speaks on the iPhone PLI scheme:₹19,000 crore incentive generated ₹3.25 lakh crore in tax; told critics, “Keep criticising”

Amid the ongoing debate over India’s iPhone manufacturing boom and the Production Linked Incentive, or PLI, scheme, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has responded to critics with figures. A video report by Bloomberg had raised questions about iPhone assembly in India and government subsidies. In response, Vaishnaw shared official figures on social media platform X, stating that the government had provided ₹19,000 crore under the mobile manufacturing incentive scheme, while receiving ₹25,000 crore in direct tax and ₹3,00,000 crore in GST in return. Taking a dig at the scheme’s critics, Vaishnaw wrote, “Cope Harder!!”-meaning, keep burning or keep enduring it.
Vaishnaw Releases Figures on Social Media, Responds Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the electronics manufacturing sector is generating employment on a large scale in the country. According to the figures, 25 lakh people have found employment in the sector, of whom 12 lakh are working in mobile manufacturing alone. Vaishnaw’s statement came after a Bloomberg report claimed that India is providing incentives to companies with taxpayers’ money, but the most expensive and key parts (components) of iPhones are still being imported from abroad. What Questions Did Bloomberg’s Report Raise? Bloomberg Opinion columnist Andy Mukherjee dismantled an iPhone in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po district and studied its parts. He raised the question of whether India should try to replicate China’s success in high-tech manufacturing. Although the report acknowledged that India has made progress in manufacturing, it said that fully assembled motherboards were previously imported, whereas India now imports empty circuit boards and assembles the parts locally. This has improved India’s mobile trade balance by $2.1 billion, or around ₹17,500 crore, in one year. One in every four iPhones made in the world is now manufactured in India. Expensive parts still imported, concerns raised over subsidies Despite this, the Bloomberg report argued that India remains entirely dependent on foreign imports for expensive components such as memory chips, processors, displays, camera lenses and batteries. According to Andy Mukherjee, India spends far more on importing components than it earns from exporting finished handsets. The report said that if manufacturing costs remain high, the government may have to provide more money in incentives than the additional wages paid to factory workers. Raghuram Rajan Has Also Raised Questions About Semiconductors and PLI A Bloomberg report also questioned India’s semiconductor ambitions, saying that even after providing billions of dollars in subsidies, India has so far progressed only to testing and packaging. Genuine high-end chip fabrication will still take years. India should focus on its strengths-engineering and design-and invest in industries such as textiles and footwear, which could provide employment to crores of people.