India's success in mobile phone assembly has not yet become deep value addition. Discuss how moving from 'capacity' to 'ecosystem' can integrate India into global value chains.

The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme has made 99.2% of mobile phones used in India domestically, and mobile imports have fallen by nearly 77% [1]. However, the government's six-year review gives no figure for domestic value addition (DVA), the share of a product's value created in India [1]. India has built assembly scale. Building component depth is the next task.

Why assembly has not yet become value addition

• Counting handsets, not value: "Made in India" counts finished phones. A fall in imports is consistent with finished phones being replaced while chips, displays and batteries keep coming in [1].
• Volume-first design: PLI pays on incremental output so that firms can overcome the "barrier of scale" [2]. It rewards volume, not depth.
• No measurement: without DVA data, nobody can test or track how deep the value chain goes [1].

How the 'ecosystem' shift integrates India into GVCs

• Scale attracts suppliers: large assembly volumes give component makers a reason to set up nearby. India's change from net importer (2014) to net exporter of phones shows that global brands now trust India as a production base [1].
• Multi-tier participation: the next phase targets components, clusters and suppliers [1]. This moves India from the final-assembly stage to upstream stages of the chain.
• Upstream technology: the ACC battery PLI (₹18,100 crore, 50 GWh target) and the high-efficiency solar PV PLI (₹24,000 crore) build capability in critical inputs [1].
• Flexible funding: money saved under the food-processing PLI (PLISFPI) was used to fund the millet scheme (PLISMBP) [1]. Unspent funds can likewise be moved to component schemes.

Pitfalls to manage

• WTO compliance: China's dispute against India's ACC and auto PLIs (DS642) now has a panel, set up in February 2026 [3]. India has already lost a case on solar domestic-content rules (DS456) [4]. Incentives should therefore reward value created in India (design, testing, processing), not the purchase of Indian inputs.
• Transparency: line ministries should publish DVA figures for each sector.

Assembly scale is the base on which an ecosystem can grow. If India measures DVA, keeps its incentives within WTO rules and backs component clusters, it can move from assembling phones to designing and making their parts. That would advance Atmanirbhar Bharat and SDG 9 on resilient industrialisation.