Apple Plans 25% Manufacturing Scale Up In India, Says Piyush Goyal

Minister of commerce, industry and consumer affairs Piyush Goyal, on Monday, said that Apple Inc plans to ramp up its production in India, making it accountable for 25% from the current levels of 5%-7%.

While pitching India as a competitive manufacturing destination, Goyal said in a statement that, “Apple is already at about 5%-7% of their manufacturing in India. If I am not mistaken, they are targeting to go up to 25% of their manufacturing. They launched the most recent models from India, manufactured in India.” However, the minister did not mention a timeline for the revised target by the iPhone maker, as per reports.

According to a J P Morgan report, released in September 2022, Apple may make one out of four iPhones in India by 2025. The report also claimed that not only iPhones but also the 25% of all Apple products that includes iPad, Apple Watches, Airpods, Macs and so on is said to be moved outside China by 2025.

Later, in October 2022, Apple had asked its suppliers to move some AirPods and Beats headphone manufacturing to India for the first time. It was then also reported that Apple iPhone assembler Foxconn is preparing to make Beats headphones in India and hopes to eventually produce AirPods in the country as well.

Referring to the recent developments in the tech giant’s manufacturing plans, information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday tweeted that Apple’s exports from India had hit $1 billion in December. As per reports, more than a dozen of Apple’s Chinese suppliers are receiving initial clearance by India to expand in the country, helping the tech giant’s efforts to diversify its assembly network beyond China.

There were also reports regarding the Indian companies’ desire to get involved in iPhone manufacturing. Recent reports revealed that India’s Tata group has been partnering with Apple and its partners for manufacturing and retails services in India. The salt-to-software conglomerate has been in talks with the factory’s owner, Taiwan’s Wistron Corp., for months, and is looking to complete the purchase by the end of March 2023.

According to a Bloomberg report in 2022, iPhone exports from India set to reach $2.5 billion in the 12 months through March 2023.