India to bid for more Apple business when Tim Cook visits

More news from India as CEO Tim Cook prepares to visit the nation to open the company’s first retail outletsand meet with government representatives – who seem intent on encouraging Apple to do even more business there.

Striving to deepen the relationship

A pair of overnight reports show the extent to which India is working hand in glove with Apple. Ministers recognize that getting business right with Cupertino will likely encourage even more involvement from the wider tech industry.

And it seems they don’t just want Apple to manufacture some iPhones there but are striving to “deepen” the relationship with Cook and Cupertino.

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal recently explained how this works. The Deccan Herald reports he said:

“Apple is continuously expanding their operations in India… We are in regular touch with the Apple, MeITY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) is also in touch with them… We hand-hold them because in a way, the eyes of the whole world are fixed on Apple.”

Putting money on the table

Indian officals are now putting the dotted lines into their talking points for the next set of meetings with the company.

They want the company to do more than limit itself to the commitments made under the production linked incentive (PLI) schemes they have agreed.

They want Apple to scale, build employment, and make India an even more important player in Apple’s component supply chain.

Apple made around 7% of iPhones in India in the last year, but this is expected to increase to 18% of its total iPhone production to India in the near term. Goyal says Apple aims to make 25% of its iPhones in India in the next 4-5 years.

Can it be more?

Foxconn will begin building its 300-acre plant in Karnataka next month. Foxconn’s largest factory in India is situated near Bengaluru International Airport and is expected to create 50,000 jobs across three years.

Along with a range of other top government figures, Cook is now expected to meet India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as communications minister, Ashwani Vaishnaw.

They will point out that Apple and its supply chain partners can qualilfy for up to $20 billion in incentives if they ramp up iPhone production. Rediff says India may even find more cash to help stimulate the iPhone manufacturing chain.

Photo by Joshua Olsen on Unsplash

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