Mobile phone enclosures emerged as the biggest focus area as the government on Friday cleared 22 projects under the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) worth ₹41,863 crore with homegrown Tata Electronics and the Motherson Group, along with Foxconn’s India arm Yuzhan Technology, leading the list of beneficiaries.
The approvals and projected production worth ₹2.58 lakh crore, are expected to generate nearly 33,791 direct jobs. Enclosures alone accounted for over ₹27,000 crore of the total investment, highlighting government’s push to localise high-value, scale-intensive components in the smartphone supply chain.
Localising the High-Value Smartphone Core
Under the third tranche, Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has also cleared several first-of-their-kind projects including the first anode material plant for lithium-ion cells, second laminate project for printed circuit boards (PCB), and aluminium extrusion facility for mobile enclosures.
Among the large employment generators, Yuzhan Technology, is expected to create 16,210 new jobs, Tata Electronics will employ 1,500 people while Motherson Electronic Components is expected to generate 5,741 jobs; all focused on mobile phone enclosures with facilities in Tamil Nadu. The individual investment sizes of these projects were not disclosed at the time of announcement.
Other beneficiaries under the tranche include ATL Battery Technology (India) for lithium-ion cells, NPSPL Advanced Materials for anode material, Wipro Hydraulics for copper-clad laminates, Hindalco Industries for aluminium extrusion, and Samsung Display Noida for display module sub-assemblies. PCB projects have been approved for firms such as AT&S India, BPL Limited, Epitome Components, Signum Electronics, India Circuits and Ascent-K Circuit, spread across multiple states.
As reported by FE earlier, the approved products includes five bare components, mainly printed circuit boards (PCBs), capacitors, connectors, enclosures and lithium-ion cells; three sub-assemblies—camera modules, display modules and optical transceivers; and three supply-chain items—aluminium extrusion, anode material and laminates.
This is set up across eight states: Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
While talking to the industry on the path ahead, Electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the approved firms should now focus on design capability, local sourcing, quality standards and skilling, saying that future approvals would hinge on measurable progress.
“We will be able to meet close to 45% of domestic requirement for multilayer and HDI PCBs, 100% of demand for laminates with export potential, and about 55% of domestic demand for lithium-ion cells, while mobile enclosures and optical transceivers are expected to meet 100% of domestic demand along with exports.
Connectors and camera modules are projected to meet around 25% of domestic demand, while anode material, display modules and aluminium extrusion are at an early stage, with domestic manufacturing just beginning under the scheme”, the minister said.
He added that the government was willing to fund capital expenditure for common mechanical and electronic design facilities, while asking industry to shoulder operational responsibility.
The government’s stance is to strengthen the buyer-seller relation so that most of the domestic needs are fulfilled from the local production.
So far, 46 ECMS applications have been approved across tranches, with cumulative investments of ₹54,567 crore and direct employment of around 51,000 people.
The electronics manufacturing sector supports close to 25 lakh jobs, with mobile manufacturing alone accounting for nearly 15 lakh. IT employs around 65 lakh people while lobal capability centres (GCCs) employ around 15 lakh people. Overall, this brings the employment number to more than 1 crore in electronics and IT alone, Vaishnaw said.
India Moves from Pilot to Commercial Chip Production
Separately, the minister said that Kaynes Technology, CG Semi, Tata Group, Micron are expected to begin their commercial production of semiconductor chips this year. Tata’s plant in Assam is slated to start commercial production by the end of this year.
He added that every large automobile, telecom and EV manufacturer is sourcing chips from the Indian plants. “Interest from Taiwan, Japan and South Korea is huge. The phase of scepticism is over and these countries are eyeing towards India for change,” Vaishnaw said.
Further, MeitY’s support under design linked incentive (DLI) scheme is conditional on the design concept being validated by market demand, ensuring that public funds are not misused.
Beyond the initial support, further funding is linked proportionally to investments made by venture capital, aligning with global practices followed in countries like the US, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, he said.