Apple, Samsung, LG, Haier, Lenovo, Whirlpool and Motorola were among nearly a dozen electronics companies that imported a combined more than ₹1.21 lakh crore worth of components and products in FY25, recording more than 13% growth, marking a reversal from the first-ever decline seen in the year before, showed latest regulatory filings of these companies.
High-Value Components & Weak Rupee Drive Rebound as Import Value Stays High
The rebound, industry executives said, is due to greater imports of high-value parts and a weaker rupee. However, the government’s Make in India campaign has failed so far to reduce imports by value for most of these companies since 2018-19, the filings revealed. The sole exception was a 6% decline in the consolidated import bill of these companies in FY24.
“The Make-in-India initiatives, be it production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes for mobile phones or import duty hikes, have been to mostly discourage imports of finished goods which has been successful,” the chief executive of the Indian unit of an electronics multinational said on condition of anonymity.
The PLI schemes for electronic components and white goods are more component-focused, and once these shape up, the import bill will fall for the electronics industry, the person said.
To be sure, imports as a share of revenue has declined over the last five years for some of the companies, especially for firms that have moved most of their finished goods production locally. This includes Apple, which has shifted iPhone production to India, while Samsung has done so for televisions.
Apple & Samsung Reduce Import Dependence as Local Production Rises
Imports as a percentage of sales at Apple India have slipped to 23% in FY25 from 25% in FY24 and 60% in FY21, while for Samsung India, it has fallen to 60% last fiscal year from 67% in FY21, according to their filings to the Registrar of Companies.
Imports have fallen for homegrown companies to 16% of sales at Blue Star from 25% in the last five-year period, while for Havells it fell to 13% from 17%. For companies such as the Indian units of LG Electronics and Lenovo, however, there has been no fall in import value as a share of sales, while for Voltas, the share rose to 15% in FY25 from 9% in FY21.
LG Electronics India chief sales officer Sanjay Chitkara said the company’s localisation rate is around 56% at the moment, improving by 2-3% each year in the last three fiscal years. The company looks to increase it further to 70%. Chitkara said this would help offset “the global ups and downs and forex impacts”.
“All glass items, resins and raw materials we are trying to localise,” Chitkara told analysts last month. He said LG has been locally producing AC compressors since FY23, besides premium products such as OLED TVs and side-by-side refrigerators that were earlier imported from South Korea.In all, the total import value of these dozen companies had expanded to more than ₹1 lakh crore since FY22. In FY24, it declined to ₹1.07 lakh crore from ₹1.14 lakh crore in FY23.
Contract manufacturers like Dixon Technologies and Amber Enterprises reported a decline in import bills. For Dixon, it fell to 6% of sales last fiscal from 59% in FY21, while dropping to 17% from 22% for Amber in the same period. One industry executive said contract manufacturers import products either directly or through their customer affiliates, depending upon the agreement.
