8 states, 40 suppliers: Apple's India web spreads from Kerala to Haryana

Apple Inc is consciously widening its manufacturing footprint in India — an expansion that began with two iPhone plants, one each in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and has now stretched across eight states and more than 40 suppliers, many of them micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

 

Beyond the two states where its first India iPhone factories were established, Apple is pulling suppliers from across the country into its global supply chain. Companies are setting up operations in Gujarat, Kerala, Haryana, Telangana, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

Apple’s supplier base falls into three broad buckets: Firms providing components and subassemblies to the five iPhone factories operated by Foxconn and Tata Electronics; companies making components for export to Apple’s global supply chain outside India; and, most recently, those manufacturing components for equipment used in new iPhone production lines in India, gear that was largely imported from China until recently.

 

The latest wave of suppliers emerging over the past eight-12 months includes Hindalco in Gujarat; automation specialist Wipro PARI, Jabil and Bharat Forge in Maharashtra; SFO Technologies, which offers ODM solutions across industries, in Kerala; and VVDN Technologies, a design, development and manufacturing services provider for OEMs, in Haryana. New entrants in Karnataka include JLK Technologies and Aequs. 

 

Apple has also set up an AirPods plant in Telangana, which is already operational.

 

At last count, Apple had built a domestic supplier ecosystem 40 entities, all assembled entirely within the past 24 months. Some of these firms operate as joint ventures, but many are developing technology in-house. Several are also participating in the government’s newly launched Electronic Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS). Among them is Aequs, which makes enclosures for Apple’s MacBook and Watch and runs a 100 per cent export-oriented unit; it was one of the first to receive approval under ECMS last month.

 

Government estimates show value addition in mobile manufacturing has climbed to over 18 per cent in the past four years. That compares favourably against the 38-40 per cent value addition China achieved over two decades after entering smartphone manufacturing in the mid-2000s.

 

Still, the current figure trails the government’s original production-linked incentive target of 35 per cent domestic value addition by FY26.

 

Apple produced iPhones worth an FOB (free on board) value of $22 billion in India in FY25, exporting 80 per cent (about $17.5 billion). This financial year, production is expected to top $25 billion, with exports rising above $20 billion. 

Adopting Apple ecosystem

  Some of the newer entrants: 

• Maharashtra: Wipro PARI, Jabil, Bharat Forge
• Karnataka: JLK Technologies, Aequs
• Gujarat: Hindalco
• Kerala: SFO Technologies
• Haryana: VVDN Technologies