New Delhi: Indian export of Apple Inc’s iPhones has crossed $1 billion within five months since April. According to a Bloomberg report that cites experts, iPhone exports from India, mainly to Europe and the Middle East is set to reach $2.5 billion in the 12 months through March 2023 at the current rate.
While India’s output of iPhones is only a small fraction, experts believe this will give an impetus to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to make India the alternative to China as a factory to the world.
“The healthy growth in Apple’s manufacturing scale and export shows India is gradually assuming an important position in the company’s China plus one strategy,” Bloomberg quoted Navkendar Singh, an analyst at tech researcher IDC.
“And for India, this a big sign of the success of its financial incentives scheme,” Singh added.
Bloomberg reported that the California-based tech company had thought about making iPhones in India much before PM Modi’s $6 billion incentive push in 2020 drove the US tech giant to get its suppliers to increase production.
The three Taiwanese contract manufacturing units, Foxconn Technology Group, Wistron Corp and Pegatron Corp which are plants in South India have received manufacturing incentives.
India only exported 3 million iPhones last year, a fraction of the 230 million exported from China. The devices exported from India from April to August this year comprise iPhone 11, 12 and 13 models. Last month, Apple confirmed it has kicked off the production of the new iPhone 14 in India, sooner than expected.
According to an IANS report, this is a first for the tech giant as it narrows down the manufacturing period of new iPhones in India, along with China which is its key global manufacturing hub. The locally-assembled iPhone 14 will go on sale in the country in the fourth quarter, as the company bolsters its local manufacturing/assembling plans by spending billions of dollars.
“The new iPhone 14 lineup introduces groundbreaking new technologies and important safety capabilities. We’re excited to be manufacturing iPhone 14 in India,” Apple told IANS in a statement.
IANS quoted People’s Daily which said while Apple’s move to India may be successful, the process must not be smooth, “as it depends on how India can adjust its labour policies, and whether India can improve its labour ability in a short period of time, and keep up with basic facilities, infrastructure as well as services”.
Apple has moved to India for assembly, but the vast majority of components for its iPhone and iPad, among other products, are made outside India, including in China. India is drawing up plans to woo Apple to manufacture MacBooks and iPads as well in India and attract other companies.
According to the Bloomberg report, the move isn’t going to be easy as it will take close to eight years just to move 10 percent of the 98 percent of Apple’s production from China. The country has deep supply chains which took close to two decades to build.
