Apple sets conditions to manufacture entire product range in India

Apple is ready to manufacture its entire product range in India, but has sought a 15-year tax-free window for importing critical components. The government has, however, said that Apple will have to abide by India’s indigenisation road map.
“Apple has big plans for manufacturing in India as part of their next phase of expansion,” IT secretary Aruna Sundararajan, who had a meeting with executives from the company recently, said.
The company has started assembly of phones at a factory in Bengaluru, which is being run by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron. While this seems to be a major achievement for India’s indigenisation programme for electronics manufacturing, the company is currently assembling here only one phone model -iPhone SE.
The model is not a large selling one and Apple wants a greater engagement with its global suppliers for a bigger play. “We have had a structured dialogue with Apple’s representatives,” IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Sundararajan said Apple has sought 15-year duty-free imports for components in India as part of an indigenisation road map. “They said high localisation cannot be achieved immediately , and will need to be covered over a period of time.”
However, the government has suggested India’s own targets regarding the development of local suppliers. Questions sent to representatives at Apple India went unanswered.