Tata Group to make iPhones in India for global market: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Friday that the manufacture of Apple iPhones would start within two and a half years

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Tata Group will start making Apple iPhones in India for domestic and global markets within two and a half years, announced Electronics and Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday. The development highlights India's growing production prowess and reflects a significant departure from Apple's previous strategy of selling largely Chinese-made new devices to customers across the world.

"@GoI_MeitY stands fully in support in growth of Global Indian Electronics companies that will in turn support global Electronic brands that want to make India their trusted manufacturing and talent partner and to realize PM's goal of making India a global electronics power," Chandrasekhar posted on X (formerly Twitter).
 

According to a company statement, the group has acquired the operations of Apple supplier Wistron Corp, which announced the development in a board meeting today. The Union Minister also thanked Wistron for "building a global supply chain from India with Indian companies at its helm".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's financial incentives to increase domestic manufacturing and Apple's aim to look beyond China amid a trade battle between Washington and Beijing have helped India become increasingly vital to the iPhone maker's diversification effort.

"PM Modi Ji's visionary production-linked incentive [PLI] scheme has already propelled India into becoming a trusted & major hub for smartphone manufacturing and exports," Chandrasekhar said.

The PLI scheme, which aims to boost domestic manufacturing, create jobs and support exports, was announced in 2021 for 14 sectors, including large-scale electronic manufacturing, white goods, textiles, manufacturing of medical devices, automobiles, specialty steel, food products, high-efficiency solar PV modules, advanced chemistry cell battery, drones and pharmaceuticals with an outlay of Rs 1.97 trillion.

Earlier this year, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that Apple exported $5 billion worth of goods from India in 2022, while also noting that the company plans to produce 25 per cent of global units in India within the next four to five years.

The takeover of the Wistron Corp factory in Karnataka by India's largest conglomerate has culminated almost a year of negotiations. The 155-year-old group - which sells everything from salt to tech services, sought to make inroads into electronics production and e-commerce over the past few years. The company already makes iPhone chassis, or the metal backbone of the device, at its factory spread over hundreds of acres of land in Tamil Nadu.

(With agency inputs)