Diamonds no longer India’s largest product export to US, thanks to Apple iPhones

Smartphones, led by Apple iPhones, have become India's largest export to the US, surpassing non-industrial diamonds.

Smartphones are India’s largest product export to the United States owing to Apple iPhones, surpassing non-industrial diamonds in value over the past three quarters. Business Standard reported citing the latest data from the department of commerce that smartphone exports reached $2 billion in the June quarter, compared to $1.44 billion for non-industrial diamonds.

India's smartphone exports to the US have surged, reaching $2 billion in the June quarter, surpassing diamond exports. In FY24, total smartphone exports amounted to $15.6 billion, with iPhones making up 66% of this figure. (AP)

In the December quarter of FY24, smartphone exports to US hit $1.42 billion, overtaking diamond exports at $1.3 billion and by the final quarter of FY24, smartphone exports surged by 43 percent quarter-on-quarter to $2.02 billion. At the same time, diamond exports declined 4.6 percent to $1.24 billion, the report said. Meanwhile, in the September quarter of FY24, smartphones ranked the fourth-largest export from India to the US.

The rise in smartphone exports shows the success of India’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile devices as before the introduction of PLI, smartphone exports totalled $1.6 billion in global shipments in FY19.

By FY23, Apple exported over $5 billion worth of iPhones from India, contributing significantly to the country’s total smartphone exports of $11.1 billion. In FY24, iPhone exports soared to $10 billion and accounted for 66 per cent of smartphone exports, which amounted to $15.6 billion.

During the period, smartphone exports to the US surged by 158 per cent to $5.56 billion, making it India’s second-largest export to the US after diamonds.