Apple is reportedly in talks with the top government officials over the last few days on possibilities to shift some part of its “production capacity from China to India“.
According to a report coming from the Economic Times, senior executives at Apple have had several meetings with top government officials to discuss plans around scaling up local revenue through contract manufacturers to nearly $40 billion. Apple plans to achieve the target in the upcoming five years.
With this move, the tech giant clearly has the intention to utilise the benefits provided by the Indian government’s production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme — that encourages companies to carry out local production.
Currently, Foxconn and Wistron manufacture Apple products in the country including iPhones. According to the report, the company will use the existing contract manufacturers to produce “up to $40 billion worth of smartphones” in the country.
“We expect Apple to produce up to $40 billion worth of smartphones, mostly for exports through its contract manufacturers Wistron and Foxconn, availing the benefits under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme,” a senior government official told the publication.
Currently, Apple holds a very small share of the Indian smartphone market and this move can help the tech giant for export purposes. Experts believe that this move could make Apple India’s largest exporter.
The company currently produces iPhone 7 and iPhone XR locally in the country. It also used to manufacture iPhone SE and iPhone 6, they have now been discontinued from Apple’s global product portfolio.
Apple Retail Store in India
Meanwhile, Apple is also eyeing on ramping up retail efforts in the country. The tech giant has plans to open its own retail stores in the country very soon. The company currently sells its products through resellers. The first Apple retail store is expected to be ready by 2021.