Apple Set Out To Shift More iPhone Production To India, Report Says

As per the Indian Economic Times report, Apple may plan to build smartphones worth up to $40 billion in India through contract manufacturers Wistron and Foxconn, hope reducing its reliance on China as a base.

A senior local official told the media that the decision was linked to India’s production-related incentive plan (PLI), which aims to promote the production of local electronic products, especially smartphones.

Several meetings between Apple’s senior executives and top-ranking government officials over the last few months have paved the way for the iPhone maker examining the possibility of shifting nearly a fifth of its production capacity from China to India and scaling up its local manufacturing revenues, through its contract manufacturers, to around $40 billion over the next five years, say officials familiar with the matter.

If this happens, the iPhone maker could become India’s largest exporter, say experts.

‘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 ET.

Companies must produce at least US $10 billion worth of smartphones in stages within 2020 and 2025 in order to benefit from the PLI program and must meet its annual goals.

Local officials are willing to consider Apple’s interests concerning the PLI plan, including how it values plants and machines already in use in China and the scope of business information required by the plan.

At the moment, Apple sells iPhones worth $1.5 billion in India, but fewer than $500 million are locally produced. In contrast, Apple produced $220 billion worth of products in China from 2018 to 2019.

Image Via Bloomberg