New Delhi, April 1 (IANS) The Apple ecosystem employed over 150,000 people directly since the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme was approved in 2021, making it the country's largest blue-collar job creator, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said on Monday.

About 3 lakh people have been employed indirectly, with a total of over 4 lakh new jobs, owing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s PLI policies which have been transformative, said the minister who is an NDA candidate from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat.

“iPhone factories are set to hire more than 10,000 people directly in the peak June-September period,” he posted on X.

The FY24 production of iPhones exceeded Rs 1 lakh crore in February, with 70 per cent exports and a total market value of Rs 1.6 lakh crore.

“iOS app development now supports more than 1 million jobs. Apple has launched an education initiative on women's health as part of its $50-million Supplier Employee Development Fund,” the Union Minister informed.

Apple's revenue in India hit nearly Rs 50,000 crore in FY23, with sales increasing 48 per cent to Rs 49,321 crore and net profit rising 76 per cent to Rs 2,229 crore -- fastest growth of net profit for Apple in India in the last five years.

India is close to achieving the target of Rs 20 lakh crore worth of mobile phone production in the last 10 years while crossing Rs 1.20 lakh crore worth phone exports in the current fiscal year (FY24) -- a whopping 7,500 per cent increase in exports over a decade -- top electronics industry body India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) said last month.

Driven by this export growth, mobile phones have now become India's fifth largest export as an individual commodity.