Tata's iPhone factories exported Rs 99,128 crore in FY26, but spent more abroad

Rs 99,128 crore. That is how much three Tata Electronics companies earned by selling goods to other countries in FY26, the money year that ended in March 2026. The numbers come from the companies' yearly filings with the Registrar of Companies, the government office where every company in India files its accounts, a bit like a school report card. The Economic Times reported them on 27 October 2026.

The Tata group makes iPhones for Apple in India. These filings show how big that work has become, and also how much of a phone made in India still comes from abroad.

First, what is an export?

An export is anything made in one country and sold to a buyer in another. If a samosa stall in Pune sold samosas to a shop in Dubai, those samosas would be exports. An import is the opposite: buying something from another country, like the stall buying its oil from abroad.

Exports bring foreign money, mostly dollars, into India. Imports send foreign money out. Business people call foreign money "forex", short for foreign exchange.

Who are the three companies?

The first is Tata Electronics itself. The second is Tata Electronics System Solutions, which was the Indian iPhone unit of the Taiwanese company Wistron. Tata finished buying that unit after a deal that included a payment of $125 million for its production lines. Its plant near Bengaluru has eight production lines.

The third is Tata Electronics Products and Solutions, earlier called Pegatron Technology India. It is a joint venture, which means two companies own it together, like two friends who open a chai stall and split the ownership. Here Tata Electronics owns 60% and Taiwan's Pegatron owns 40%. Tata took that 60% stake in January 2025, not long after it began making iPhones in India in 2023.

A number counting up to Rs 99,128 crore with bars rising beside it — Exports by three Tata Electronics companies in FY26

Is this a big jump from last year?

In FY25, the same three companies reported exports of Rs 76,953 crore. But the two years are not a fair match. In FY25 the old Wistron unit counted 15 months of business, not the usual 12.

Think of a batter who scored runs over 15 matches one season and over 12 matches the next. You cannot compare the totals directly. Mohit Yadav, founder of the data company AltInfo, told The Economic Times: "Tata Electronics' combined revenue from the US rose nearly 40%". He added that on a fair 12 month basis, the rise would be even higher, because of the longer period counted in FY25.

One more thing made the number look bigger. The rupee fell almost 10% against the dollar during FY26. When the rupee gets weaker, each dollar earned turns into more rupees. If an uncle abroad sends you 10 dollars of pocket money every month, you get more rupees for the same 10 dollars when the rupee is weak. Analysts say this may have lifted the reported value of the exports.

Where did the goods go?

Taiwan was the biggest buyer, with exports worth Rs 47,930 crore. The US came next at Rs 38,508 crore, and Ireland was third at Rs 11,980 crore.

Exports made up about 76% of what the companies earned from making goods. So roughly three out of every four rupees came from buyers outside India.

Bar chart of FY26 exports: Taiwan Rs 47,930 crore, US Rs 38,508 crore, Ireland Rs 11,980 crore — Taiwan, the US and Ireland were the top buyers

Why did more money go out than come in?

Here is the surprising part. The three companies paid Rs 1,29,641 crore in foreign money during FY26. That is more than they earned in foreign money.

The Economic Times says this shows iPhone making in India still depends heavily on parts brought in from other countries. Some of the money may also have gone on licence fees or other charges paid in foreign money, which the filing does not break down.

Go back to the samosa stall. If it sells samosas abroad but buys most of its oil, flour and spices from abroad too, a big part of every sale flows straight back out. India's phone makers are in a similar spot today: they put the phone together here, but many of the parts inside are still imported.

Two panels: Rs 99,128 crore came in from exports, Rs 1,29,641 crore went out in foreign payments — Foreign money paid out was larger than export sales

Bigger sales, but a bigger loss

Tata Electronics' consolidated operating revenue, which means the sales of the company and its group companies added together, rose 96% to Rs 1,29,902 crore. Still, the company reported a net loss of Rs 1,611 crore, against a loss of Rs 69 crore a year earlier. A net loss means the company spent more than it earned after all its costs.

Sales inside India grew too, up 46% to Rs 30,182 crore. An industry executive said this includes products supplied to Apple India, the company that sells and services Apple products here.

The bigger iPhone picture

Tata's numbers sit inside a much larger story. India's iPhone exports reached about Rs 2 lakh crore in the first 11 months of FY26, up 33%. India's smartphone exports stood at around Rs 2.6 lakh crore, and iPhones made up over 75% of them.

Much of this growth came under the PLI scheme. PLI stands for production linked incentive. The government pays makers a small reward for making and selling more goods in India, a bit like a bonus for every extra run a batter scores. FY26 was the last year of that scheme for phones.

By FY26, Tata and Foxconn, another big Apple partner, were adding almost equally to iPhone exports. Over the five years from FY22 to FY26, Tata Electronics exported iPhones worth $26.3 billion, a little more than Foxconn's $25.6 billion, even though Tata joined much later.

This news video explains how Tata Electronics moved ahead of Foxconn in iPhone exports.

Watch on YouTube

What does this mean for work?

These factories are huge employers. The plants run by Tata and Foxconn are among India's largest factories, with the smaller one employing more than 19,000 workers and the largest more than 42,000. More than 70% of the workers are women. Counting the more than 40 part suppliers too, about 2,50,000 people work in Apple's wider network in India.

For a young person, the lesson is simple. India now puts together a lot of the world's iPhones. The next big step is making more of the parts inside them here too, so less of each sale flows back out of the country.

Sources

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