How will Apple, the poster boy of Make in India, deal with end of PLI?

To get more scale than envisaged and nearly double the value addition, Apple's vendors will need to replicate the model of Chinese mega-factories in India

In 2016, a few days before Apple Inc chief executive officer (CEO) Tim Cook came on his maiden visit to India, the government rejected the company’s proposal to import and sell refurbished iPhones in the country. If that was not enough, Cook’s request to allow Apple stores in India and grant some leeway on the 30 per cent local sourcing clause was rejected by the commerce minister at the time, Nirmala Sitharaman, in Parliament.

It looked like Apple’s relationship with India had reached the point of no return.

Yet, seven years later, and more than halfway through the five-year term