Tata Group soon to take over Wistron’s iPhone factory in India

Flowers look pretty

Global India conglomerate the Tata Group is preparing to take complete control of Wistron’s iPhone manufacturing plant in Bengaluru, India. It’s possible this is the first big Indian manufacturer to take a leading position in the Apple supply chain.

Tata Group joins the Apple supply chain

Business Line first reported the news, which is that Tata Group is likely to complete its takeover of Wistron’s iPhone plant by the end of April.

The two companies have been discussing the move since fall 2022. Once the transition is complete the plant will become the country’s first all-Indian factory, though Tata seems to plan to fire thousands of employees as it takes over work there.

Those lay-offs may or may not be temporary. The plant currently makes iPhone 12 and iPhone 14 across eight production lines, but as interest dwindles in expectation of the iPhone 15 range it’s possible the new factory owner simply plans to upgrade production lines to manufacture the next iteration of the Apple smartphone.

Tata is working hard to build its presence in Apple’s burgeoning India-based supply chain.

Not only has it expanded production at its iPhone component manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu, but it is also thought to be speaking with Pegatron with a view to acquiring that company’s iPhone factories.

A little history to reprise

It feels important to point out that once the take-over is complete Wistron will have no presence in India. This may or may not relate to the incident in 2020 when violence broke out at the factory when staff rioted over unpaid salaries.

A subsequent report concluded serious violations of labor laws, including underpaid wages, irregular hours, and poor working conditions. Apple put the company on probation for breaches of its supplier code of conduct in response.

“As always, our focus is on making sure everyone in our supply chain is protected and treated with dignity and respect,” said Apple at that time.

“We are very disappointed and taking immediate steps to address these issues. Wistron has taken disciplinary action and is restructuring their recruitment and payroll teams in Narasapura. Apple employees, along with independent auditors, will monitor their progress.”

As the nation of 1.4 billion consumers overtakes the UK as a giant economy and political upheaval continues, Cook’s decision to build Apple’s business in India seems betterand better.

In other recent news from Apple in India

Here is the now obligatory rolling collection of all Apple’s recent news from its growing business in India.

• Apple leases new office space in India’s Silicon Valley
• Pegatron in talks to open second iPhone factory in India
• Apple India: iPhone manufacture climbs, stores about to open
• Apple wants new working laws in India.
• Apple is about to open its first retail stores in India.
• Foxconn plans to begin AirPods production in India.
• New India smartphone security proposals may cause problems for Apple.
• India’s changed labour laws for Foxconn in one region.
• Apple has decided to change its global sales structure, elevating Ashish Chowdhary to lead Apple’s teams in India.
• Apple VP Lisa Jackson gave an extraordinarily insightful interview in which the company promised to make big investments in carbon neutral supply chain development in India.
• Apple also announced it will work with NGO Frank Water to improve water management in India and Bengaluru.
• More recently, a senior executive of an Apple partner called Goertek made news when he suggested Apple is pushing really hard to get suppliers to set up manufacturing in India.
• That same executive made headlines again a few days later when he suddenly resigned with immediate effect.
• Apple supplier Foxconn announced a massive $700 million investment in building a new manufacturing facility at about the same time.
• That’s raising some friction in China, where Foxconn had to deny claims distributed on social media that the company is dismantling its existing production lines in China’s Shenzhen.

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