Apple had been mulling to establish an iPhone production facility in India and had also submitted a list of preconditions, including 15-year custom duty holiday for importing various iPhone kits and other equipment. The government agreed to the terms but they were not concurring with the 15-years time frame. In the meanwhile, Apple has zeroed in on Bengaluru as the location for their production facility and soon the iPhones will come with a “Made India” tag.
The Karnataka government has already issued a release which welcomes Apple’s proposal to commence initial manufacturing operations. The release was signed off by IT minister Priyank Kharge and the move is further said to “foster cutting edge technology ecosystem and supply chain development in the state, which are critical for India to compete globally.”
Once the facility kicks off Apple will start assembling iPhones in India and this will allow the company to cut some slack when it comes to pricing and thus help them compete with the other brands. It’s also worth noting that India will be the third country in the world to assemble iPhones with the other two being Brazil and China. The release further said that the decision has been taken after the state ministers and officials met with top Apple Executives.
Wistron, a Taiwanese company will be the OEM of Apple that will make the iPhones out of Peenya, the industrial epicenter of the city. In fact way back in December Apple had put up Job openings for a bunch of positions at its OEM in Bengaluru including the OEM operations team. Furthermore, the government has also said that it will be collaborating with Apple on various other fronts but preferred not to specify the same. Apparently, government is also encouraging Apple to start out with a complete manufacturing unit and perhaps this is something Apple will ponder on after a few year into operation.
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