In fact, the five-year smartphone PLI scheme will leave a revenue surplus of ₹11,000 crore if only the Centre’s GST (goods and services tax) collections are taken into consideration, industry body India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) said in a June 5 letter to the finance ministry.
The government increased the GST on mobile phones to 18% from 12% on April 1, 2020, the day the smartphone PLI scheme was announced.
As per India ICEA, over the last three financial years – FY21 to FY23 – the incremental GST of 6% has resulted in an additional cumulative revenue of ₹42,897 crore. The total GST on mobile phones for the three-year period stood at ₹1,28,691 crore.
The final adjusted total outlay for the smartphone PLI scheme for a five-year period now stands at ₹38,601 crore as against the original ₹41,000 crore, as iPhone-maker Pegatron started a year late. So far, the total disbursement for smartphone PLI stands at ₹1,644 crore.
“Currently, since only ₹1,644 crore has been claimed as part of the PLI scheme till March 31, 2023, the incremental GST has created a surplus of ₹41,253 crore,” the ICEA said in the letter addressed to revenue secretary Sanjay Malhotra.Calculating that, the incremental GST over the course of the smartphone PLI scheme would be around ₹1,01,697 crore, the ICEA said. Of this, the central government will collect ₹50,849 crore while retaining only its 50% portion, far more than the total outlay of the scheme.
“In summary, even if only the Centre’s GST was to be taken into consideration, the smartphone PLI scheme over the five-year period is 100% self-sustaining and will leave a revenue surplus of ₹11,000 crore,” the industry body said.
The total GST contribution during the tenure of the smartphone PLI scheme is expected to the tune of over ₹3 lakh crore. The scheme was deferred by one year for the majority of the companies due to the pandemic and will now end in 2025-26. All the selected companies, barring Samsung, have taken the deferment.
As per data shared with the government, since the scheme came into effect, over 120,000 new direct jobs have been created in the electronics sector, particularly in the smartphone manufacturing ecosystem.
On average, over 60% of these new jobs are now occupied by women in the age group of 19-24, most of whom are first-time job seekers. By conservative estimates, at least 250,000 new indirect jobs may have been created to support the fast-growing electronics manufacturing ecosystem.
Mobile phone exports have been gradually increasing due to PLI. In FY23, smartphone exports rose 50% to a high of $11.5 billion.