The Indian conglomerate Tata Group is to start manufacturing the US Apple iPhone in India. The Tata Group will acquire the Indian arm of Wistron, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer that manufactures iphones in the country. Tata will emphasize “domestic” and expand sales of Apple products in India.
Wistron announced on October 27 that it would sell its Indian operations to Tata Electronics, a unit of the Tata Group. Wistron said it now estimated the sale at $125 million. According to Indian media reports, Tata will take over Wistron’s factory near Bangalore in southern India, which makes the iPhone.
The Indian government has proposed “Make in India,” a strategy to revive the manufacturing industry, and hopes to nurture the domestic industry through subsidies. In the context of the current confrontation between China and the United States, India is also attracting attention as a production base to replace China.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India’s Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, posted on X (formerly Twitter) on October 27 that “Tata will start manufacturing iPhone in India for domestic and foreign customers.”
According to Counterpoint, a Hong Kong-based research firm, China’s Xiaomi will take the top spot with 20 percent of India’s smartphone shipments in 2022. Apple’s share is no more than 4%, but as a huge market of 1.4 billion people, India is highly anticipated.
Apple opened India’s first directly operated stores in Mumbai and New Delhi in April. Apple CEO Tim Cook visited India at the opening and held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others.
According to Indian media reports, Cook also held an interview with Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, the group’s main investment holding company, during his visit to India.
The Tata Group is a representative consortium in India. IT not only owns large IT companies such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tata Motors, but also runs businesses such as home appliance stores.