New Delhi, June 22 -- Over the past decade, India's electronics manufacturing sector has been defined by one thing: the mobile phone. From 2014 to 2024, the country went from assembling less than 30% of the phones it consumed to 99%, thanks largely to the Rs.1.9 trillion Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

According to the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY), the value of India's electronics production rose nearly fivefold to Rs.9.5 trillion in 2023-24, from Rs.1.9 trillion in 2014-15.

Yet, for all the triumph in scale, for India to emerge as a global manufacturing powerhouse, it has to go beyond smartphones and also break free from its role as an assembly shop.

To make mobile phones, electronic manufacturi...