The Mobile Repair Accelerator is a workforce development initiative in India, facilitated by SERI in collaboration with Google, TSSC, and Britco & Bridco.
As an independent nonprofit standards organization, SERI occupies a position that few other entities in the electronics ecosystem can claim: no commercial stake in outcomes, no product to sell, no competitive interest in who wins. That neutrality makes us a trusted facilitator across industry, certification bodies, training institutions, and public-sector stakeholders who might otherwise share a goal but lack a common structure to pursue it.
SERI's approach to collaborative projects is built on that premise. When a shared need exists across stakeholders with different capabilities and incentives, we identify the opportunity, bring the right partners into alignment, and provide the coordination infrastructure to keep the work moving.
The Mobile Repair Accelerator, currently underway in Hyderabad, India, is a working example of that model.
TAKING A COORDINATED APPROACH
India is the world’s second-largest smartphone market, generating over 150 million1 device sales annually, with a formal electronics repair sector that generates roughly $350 million in revenue each year.2 In Delhi alone, 95 percent of discarded electronics are handled informally, a figure that points to how deeply the gap between formal and informal systems runs across India’s electronics economy.3 For the technicians working in that informal economy, the absence of formal training means no credentials, no career progression, and no pathway into the organized sector.
To make matters more challenging, industry projections point to a shortage of 10 million skilled electronics technicians in India in the near term, a gap that will require reskilling six million existing workers and bringing four million new entrants into the sector by 2028.4
Addressing that gap required a convener. No single organization had the combination of local training capacity, national certification authority, industry funding, and neutral coordination needed to bring an initiative like this together. SERI provided that coordination, convening the right partners and aligning them around a common structure.
The Mobile Repair Accelerator is a time-bound pilot designed to train approximately 100 junior-level mobile repair technicians between December 2025 and July 2026. Training covers hands-on instruction in hardware and software diagnostics, data sanitization, grading, and component-level repair. The initiative runs in collaboration with Britco & Bridco Educational Institution, a Hyderabad-based training provider accredited by certification partner the Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC), and with support from Google.
“To reach our 10/35 Vision, strong repair ecosystems are a vital component. We are pleased to be part of the Mobile Repair Accelerator collaboration and are proud of the positive impacts that the program has already produced. What makes this initiative work is the same thing that makes any cross-sector collaboration work: each partner contributing what they do best, within a structure that keeps everyone moving in the same direction. That structure is what SERI provides.”
-Jeff Seibert, Chief Development Officer, SERI
CERTIFIED TECHNICIANS, CONCRETE OUTCOMES
Three training batches have launched since the program’s December 2025 start, with 41 participants enrolled to date. Participants are primarily between the ages of 20 and 23, drawn largely from Telangana with additional representation from Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, and Rajasthan. Among completed batches, the pass rate is 100 percent. For the first completed cohort, 65 percent of participants have already secured employment, with placement tracking ongoing for subsequent batches.
“Dare to dream. The Mobile Repair Accelerator Program is not only a skill-training initiative but also a roadmap to the success of their lives. A journey from a rural area with a great vision to become a technopreneur. Happy to be part of the great vision shared by Google and SERI, who’ve joined hands with TSSC.”
-Unnikrishnan Kinanoor, Director, Britco & Bridco
On March 16, SERI and its partners mark a public milestone for the initiative during a Google-hosted event at T-Hub in Hyderabad, organized in collaboration with the Government of Telangana. The event will feature live demonstrations of repair skills, conversations on workforce development and policy alignment, and a firsthand look at the positive impact this collaboration has produced so far.
The pilot is still unfolding, with more batches of participants in progress, and the technicians who have already completed the program are putting their credentials to work. For each of them, certification represents a concrete change in what their career in repair can look like. Taken together, those individual outcomes add up to something the market in India has been missing: a growing, formally trained repair workforce with the skills and credentials to meet demand that is only increasing.
To learn more about SERI’s 10/35 Vision, visit https://sustainableelectronics.mindstaging.com/10-35/.
For more updates on the Mobile Repair Accelerator and other SERI programs, follow us on LinkedIn and sign up for our digest.
- International Data Corporation (IDC). “India’s Smartphone Market Grew 4% in 2024 to 151 Million Units.” IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, February 10, 2025. https://my.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prAP53185725
- “India wants 20-percent share of global electronics repair market in few years.” Digit.in, June 1, 2023. https://www.digit.in/news/mobile-phones/india-20-percent-share-global-electronics-repair-market-68203.html
- “95% of Delhi’s E-Junk Still Being Handled Informally.” Times of India, October 14, 2025. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/95-of-delhis-e-junk-still-being-handled-informally/articleshow/124535903.cms
- Anand, Nisha. “India’s Electronics Sector Threatened by 10 Million Skill Shortage: Report.” Business Standard, November 19, 2024. https://www.business-standard.com/industry/news/india-s-electronics-sector-threatened-by-10-million-skill-shortage-report-124111900858_1.html