- Apple has increased production in India through its primary suppliers who have benefited from the cash incentives offered by the Indian government to promote domestic smartphone manufacturing.
- Apple sees India as a key emerging market and CEO Tim Cook said that the company reported double-digit growth during the quarter in India.
Apple Inc. manufactured almost 7% of its iPhones in India in FY23 compared to 1% in 2021, tripling its production to more than $7 billion.
Of the total production, Apple exported $5 billion of iPhones in the year ended March 2023, nearly four times as much as the previous period, reported Bloomberg.
Apple has increased production in India through its primary suppliers — Foxconn Technology Group, Wistron Corp. and Pegatron Corp. — all of whom have benefited from the cash incentives offered by the Indian government to promote domestic smartphone manufacturing.
Last month, the government announced a new set of financial incentives worth ₹765 crores under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for large-scale electronics manufacturing with the majority share of incentives worth ₹601.93 crores, directed towards Apple’s contract manufacturer Wistron.
Meanwhile, Foxconn plans to invest up to $1 billion to set up a manufacturing facility on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Foxconn also has manufacturing facilities in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
The US-China technology war and supply-chain bottlenecks due to the pandemic, have prompted global manufacturers to reduce their reliance on a China-centric supply chain and India along with Southeast Asia is emerging as an alternative. Apple has long been looking at decreasing its reliance on China.
Increasing focus on India
Not only has Apple increased its production in India, but also sees the country as a key emerging market. Recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the company reported double-digit growth during the quarter in India and he is ‘very bullish’ on the country. The company has started offering UPI auto payment options for subscription-based purchases on its App Store in India.
It is due to open its flagship retail stores in Delhi and Mumbai. Cook is scheduled to fly in to personally inaugurate the two stores.
In light of the latest developments, Apple has also undertaken an international reshuffle of its top sales executives to make India a separate sales zone within Asia.
