India’s Electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw defends the government’s mobile phone production-linked incentive (PLI) model, citing tax receipts and employment figures as replies to criticism of subsidy-led manufacturing. He says the government paid ₹19,000 crore in incentives under mobile PLI and collected ₹25,000 crore in direct taxes, along with about ₹3 lakh crore in GST.
Several outlets repeat or expand these figures, linking them to the scale of the sector and the policy’s perceived returns. Vaishnaw also says electronics manufacturing employs 25 lakh people and mobile manufacturing accounts for 12 lakh jobs. Some reports frame the response as direct engagement with arguments that India’s iPhone boom may not justify subsidy costs, and highlight that India exports finished phones while still relying on imported components.
Beyond the defence, some outlets add policy context: a follow-on Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme is scheduled to run from FY 2026-27 to FY 2030-31 with a budgetary allocation of ₹62,500 crore. The different coverage largely agrees on the core employment and tax/incentive numbers, while differing on how much they emphasise the dispute around subsidies versus the upcoming scheme details and broader supply-chain goals.
