New Delhi: As China and Vietnam falter amid India’s push for domestic manufacturing owing to the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, tech giant Apple saw a robust around $8 billion sales in the country in the last fiscal (FY24) – a nearly 33 per cent rise (year-on-year).

According to sources, most of the growth was driven by iPhones amid the premiumisation trend that has solidified in the world’s second-largest smartphone market.

Not just robust domestic sales, the Cupertino-based company has also broken export records and according to industry estimates, iPhone shipments are projected to increase by over 20 per cent this year on the back of domestic manufacturing support and strong distribution.

“Premiumisation has started and Apple has once again got the timing right to benefit from this trend through its devices and financing offers. Additionally, the brand continues to enjoy the strong brand pull and lately expanding its channel presence in the country which helped it to grow,” Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint Research, told IANS.

In a major boost to India’s PLI scheme, mobile phone exports from the country gained much ground in FY24 as manufacturing giants like China and Vietnam fell behind.

Mobile phone exports from China went down from $136.3 billion in FY23 to $132.5 billion in FY24. Similarly, Vietnam saw a drop from $31.9 billion in FY23 to $26.27 billion in the last fiscal year, according to the latest industry data.

In India, mobile phone exports, led by Apple, from the country touched nearly $16 billion in FY24 from $11 billion in FY23.

As per industry estimates, mobile phone production surged from Rs 18,900 crore in 2014-15 to an estimated Rs 4.10 lakh crore in FY24, registering an increase of 2,000 per cent.

According to Counterpoint Research, the majority of consumers in India in the premium segment chose a financial scheme to buy a smartphone.