The year 2024 has been one to remember for Tamil Nadu’s electronics sector. For the second year running, the state topped India’s electronics export order book.
In April, its electronics export order value stood at $9.56 billion for FY24 — double that of Karnataka ($4.6 billion) and Uttar Pradesh ($4.46 billion). The momentum has continued in the ongoing fiscal as well, with April-September already recording over $6 billion in electronics exports.
One key insight into Tamil Nadu’s pole position in electronics exports for FY-24 was that the state also registered a whopping 78% growth over its export value in the previous fiscal. A total of $9.56 billion in electronics exports out of a national export order book of $29.12 billion means that the state accounted for approximately one out of every ₹3 that India earned from the export of electronics goods through all of last fiscal.
Throughout the year, the electronics sector in Tamil Nadu kept making headlines. Investments from Salcomp, Pegatron and Foxconn fructified, with their plants commencing production in full swing, all of which added extra thrust to the state’s export engine.
In September, American communications major Cisco, launched its first Indian plant in Sriperumbudur, in partnership with global electronics manufacturer, Flex. “Cisco’s partnership and the announcement made a huge difference – not just for Flex in India but for the industry too,” said Nikhil Rao, Vice President, Operations. “It meant high technology products, a highly skilled workforce – labour force as well as the talent — and a manufacturing ecosystem, which means the supplier ecosystem as well.”
It’s this strong and fast-growing supplier ecosystem that the state is banking on to continue fueling the brisk growth in electronics exports. It hopes the number will cross 12 billion dollars in FY25 — and that’s just for starters.
“The already-existing infra will take us to $12 billion, now,” said TRB Rajaa, Tamil Nadu’s industries minister, “What we are seeing is (exports from) more down-the-value-chain coming in — the entire supply chain, probably, of Apple, is what we’re looking at.”
He added, “For the next year, we are looking at really bigger numbers. Right now, we are 35% of India’s output. We would definitely want to go higher.”
In January, Tata Electronics announced an investment of ₹7,000 crore towards expanding its components plant in Hosur. Further, Taiwanese electronics major Foxconn has committed ₹13,000 crore in further investments, and US-based Jabil has promised ₹2,000 crore.
This means Tamil Nadu will soon host four of the biggest global suppliers of tech giant Apple. Should this momentum continue, $12 billion in exports may be just a portion of what the state clocks in 2025.
