Apple may scale up production in India five-fold to $40 bn in 5 years
Apple makes only iPhones in India and may reportedly start making AirPods from next year; it reportedly has no immediate plans to make iPads or laptops in India
Apple may scale up production in India five-fold to around $40 billion (about Rs 3.32 lakh crore) over the next four or five years, government sources have told PTI. Currently, Apple produces only iPhones in India and reportedly has plans to start manufacturing AirPods from next year.
According to the unnamed government official, the company crossed the $7-billion production mark in the last financial year. The official told PTI that Apple has no immediate plans to make iPads or its laptops in India.
An email query sent to Apple did not elicit any reply.
Focus on boosting production
“They don’t have any plans to participate in IT hardware PLI. They may come at a later stage, but as of now, their focus is to scale up existing production levels,” the official said.
The company globally sold iPhones worth $191 billion and products worth $38.36 billion in the wearable, home, and accessories segment in the financial year that ended on September 25, 2022.
In the first nine months of the current fiscal, the company recorded about a 4 per cent dip in iPhone sales at $156.77 billion and a slight decline in the wearable, home, and accessories segment at $30.52 billion.
The company has become the largest exporter of mobile phones from India.
iPhone 15
According to industry sources, sales of Apple’s iPhone 15 series registered a 100 per cent growth compared to that of the iPhone 14 series on the launch day.
Apple has launched four models in the iPhone 15 series. Two variants — iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus — are also being made in India. The company has for the first time made available the “made-in-India” iPhones on the same day it started selling the devices in other parts of the globe.
According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, Apple led the ultra-premium segment, with phones priced above Rs 45,000 apiece, with a 59 per cent market share in the first quarter of 2023, and India is among the top five markets for the company now.
(With agency inputs)
