New Delhi, Apr 19 (IANS): Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday met Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and discussed how to further boost local manufacturing and iPhone exports.

Apple logged a record over $5 billion in iPhone exports from India in FY23.

"It was a delight to meet @tim_cook CEO, @Apple and his team to engage on Apple's strategic and long-term partnership with and in India's digital journey," the minister said in a tweet.

"We discussed deepening and broadening manufacturing, exports, skilling of youth, expanding app an innovation economy and job creation," Chandrasekhar added.

Mobile phone exports rose from Rs 45,000 crore in FY22 to Rs 90,000 crore in FY23, surpassing the previous estimate of Rs 75,000 crore.

The outstanding performance of the performance-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile phones serves as an inspiration for other electronic segments to emulate this success in increasing manufacturing and exports.

The Apple ecosystem in India has generated over one lakh new direct jobs in manufacturing in the last two years, according to Chandrashekhar.

"About 70 per cent of these are 19-24 year old women, who are starting their careers, acquiring skills and improving the ease of living for their families," he added.

Apple began manufacturing iPhones in India in 2017, and since then, the company has worked with suppliers to assemble new iPhone models and produce a growing number of components.