25 Lakh Electronics Jobs, 12 Lakh in Mobile Sector: Ashwini Vaishnaw Shares Data
Vaishnaw made the remarks in a post on X, responding to questions about the effectiveness of government incentives given to mobile phone manufacturers. He pointed to employment figures and tax collections to explain the government’s position. His comments come as India expands its electronics manufacturing operations and seeks to increase domestic production of smartphone components.
Mobile PLI stats as follows:
Government incentive paid: Rs 19,000 Cr.
Direct tax collected: Rs 25,000 Cr.
GST collected: Rs 3,00,000 Cr.
Electronics manufacturing employs 25 Lakh people; mobile manufacturing alone employs 12 Lakh.Cope harder!!
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) October 27, 2026
Mobile manufacturing accounts for nearly half of electronics jobs
“Electronics manufacturing employs 25 Lakh people; mobile manufacturing alone employs 12 Lakh,” Vaishnaw said.
According to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), these figures include both direct and indirect employment across manufacturing facilities, component suppliers and related businesses.
Government data released in July 2026 showed that women accounted for nearly 70 per cent of the direct workforce in mobile phone manufacturing. Manufacturing facilities in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have emerged as major employment centres.
Government cites tax collections from mobile PLI scheme
Vaishnaw defended the financial returns from the mobile manufacturing PLI scheme, which provides incentives to eligible manufacturers based on production and sales.
The minister cited ₹19,000 crore in government incentive payouts against ₹25,000 crore in direct tax collections and around ₹3 lakh crore in GST collections.
The figures are part of the government’s argument that mobile manufacturing has contributed to public revenue. They do not, by themselves, establish how much additional tax revenue the incentives generated.
India’s next mobile manufacturing scheme gets ₹62,500 crore
The government has introduced a new Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme with an allocation of ₹62,500 crore.
The programme will operate from FY 2026-27 to FY 2030-31 and seeks to encourage domestic component sourcing, phone production and Indian-owned smartphone brands.
MeitY expects the scheme to support cumulative mobile phone production worth approximately ₹39 lakh crore and generate around 60,000 direct jobs over its five-year period. These remain government projections.