Coming soon to a mall in Mumbai, Apple's first retail store in India

Apple took wraps off its highly-anticipated retail store in India, which is set to open soon for the public. On Wednesday, the American technology giant unveiled the barricade of its first retail store at Jio World Drive Mall, Mumbai, ahead of the upcoming opening of Apple BKC.

"Inspired by the iconic Kaali Peeli taxi art unique to Mumbai, the Apple BKC creative includes colourful interpretations of the decals combined with many Apple products and services that will be available for our customers to discover. The creative for the store features a bright welcome to people passing by with the classic Apple greeting "Hello Mumbai". To celebrate the opening of the new store, visitors can download the new Apple BKC wallpaper and move to the sounds of Mumbai with a specially curated playlist on Apple Music," said Apple in a statement.

India has been a bright spot for Apple amid the global headwinds. Apple has been trying to ramp up local manufacturing in the country in line with the government's 'Make in India' initiative. Since the onset of Covid-19 in early 2021, the company has doubled its efforts to manufacture in the country in light of broken global supply chains – especially in China.

"While Apple has taken time to open its own store in India, it makes sense now more than ever. The Indian consumer is maturing and spending more, especially at the premium end which makes India the next big growth market in the next decade for Apple – across product and service categories," said Navkendar Singh, Associate Vice President, IDC India.

The iPhone maker's smartphone business has seen an uptick in India, despite a drop in the overall market. In the premium segment, Apple maintained its lead with a 60 per cent market share, with iPhone 13 being the third most shipped device in 2022.

"In the recent past, Apple has enjoyed an unprecedented growth momentum in India, including an increased share of domestic manufacturing, aggressive marketing and affordability initiatives, and the success of the Apple India Online store," said Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR. "The premium smartphone segment in India has been on a strong growth curve. The Apple BKC store will be a key step forward for Apple to build on its recent market momentum, including growing domestic manufacturing, to post a long-term sustainable growth in a strategic market."