New Delhi, Oct 27 (FN Agency) Tata Group will start making Apple iPhones in India for domestic and global markets within two and a half years, announced Electronics and Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar today. The development underscores India’s growing production prowess, and reflect a significant departure from Apple’s previous strategy of selling mostly Chinese-made new devices to frenzied customers across the world. “@GoI_MeitY stands fully in support in growth of Global Indian Electronics companies that will in turn support global Electronic brands that want to make India their trusted manufacturing and talent partner and to realize PM’s goal of making India a global electronics power,” Mr Chandrasekhar posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The group has acquired the operations of Apple supplier Wistron Corp which announced the development in a board meeting today, according to a company statement. The Union Minister also thanked Wistron for “building a global supply chain from India with Indian companies at its helm”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s financial incentives to boost local manufacturing and Apple’s strategy to look beyond China amid a Washington-Beijing trade war have helped India become increasingly important to the iPhone maker’s diversification drive.
“PM Modi Ji’s visionary PLI scheme has already propelled India into becoming a trusted & major hub for smartphone manufacturing and exports,” Mr Chandrasekhar said. The takeover of the Wistron Corp factory in Karnataka India’s largest conglomerate has capped about a year of negotiations. The 155-year-old group – which sells everything from salt to tech services – sought to make inroads into electronics production and e-commerce over the past few years. The company already makes iPhone chassis, or the metal backbone of the device, at its factory spread over hundreds of acres of land in Tamil Nadu.