With the Trump administration’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs in April 2025 targeting multiple countries, India appears to have an edge over others, particularly in the electronics sector.
This advantage stems from relatively lower tariffs imposed on Indian goods, especially compared to other major manufacturing hubs like China and Vietnam. For this reason, within a month of the announcement, global technology giants such as Apple, Google, and Samsung have expressed strong interest in expanding or shifting their manufacturing operations to India.
For instance, Apple has officially announced that all iPhones sold in the US will be imported from India, meaning the US market will rely solely on India-made iPhones for domestic consumption. India-made iPhones account for only 8.5% of the phones sold in the US currently, with China accounting for three-fourths of the sales. iPhone sales in the US were 75.9 million units in 2024, with India-made phones accounting for only 3.1 million units in March 2025.
Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google, is also planning to relocate a portion of its smartphone production from Vietnam to India. Currently, Google, in partnership with contract manufacturer Dixon Technologies, produces about 43,000 to 45,000 Pixel devices for the Indian market, a relatively modest number. Now, the company is looking to scale up production and begin exporting India-made Pixel phones. South Korean electronics major Samsung is also considering relocating parts of its smartphone and electronics production to India.
HP India is set to begin local production of laptops, desktop PCs, and all-in-one systems in May, in partnership with Dixon. Taiwanese tech firm Asus is also scaling up its India operations, aiming to transform the country into a major global export hub. Lenovo has announced plans to manufacture all its PC models for the Indian market locally within the next three years. It intends to produce AI GPU servers in Pondicherry, bolstering its domestic presence. Murata Manufacturing Co, a key supplier of components for Apple, is considering shifting some of its production to India as part of a global supply chain realignment.
“All the stars are aligned for India to be the alternative to China. India not only offers government support and lower costs, but also has English-speaking software engineers and a large consumer base,” said Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint. “Going forward, competitive dynamics will be shaped by OEMs’ ability to diversify their supply chains and manufacturing bases.”
The US has imposed a 26% reciprocal tariff on imports, while Chinese goods face a much higher 145%, and Vietnamese products are subject to 46%. Although a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs was announced on April 9, a 10% baseline tariff remains in effect on China.