'Make in India': India to See Its First Ever iPhone Plant?

BANGALORE: Foxconn Technology, the makers of Apple iPhone, is in advance talks with the Indian government to set up an exclusive manufacturing plant for the world’s third’s largest smartphone, iPhone. Apple’s iPhone currently competes at the third position against the top Samsung and some local manufacturers. This move of setting up Apple plant would lower prices of the device in India, reports Indian Express.

As the plant is being planned to set up in Hyderabad, Foxconn Group president Calvin Chin and FIH Mobile Ltd chairman Vincent Whtong met K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Chief Minister, Telangana for the same.

Owing to the wage inflation in China where the majority of iPhone are manufactured, Foxconn chose India as the next site for Apple plant. Keeping a low profile on the price of the smartphone, Apple is planning to witness surge in the sales to compete with the competitor, Quanta Computers Inc.

“Foxconn is sending a delegation of their officers to scout for locations in a month’s time,” said Subhash Desai, Industries Minister of India’s western state Maharashtra, reports Reuters.

Although Foxconn hasn’t revealed much about its plans in India due to commercial sensitivity issues, it is speculated that 10-12 facilities will be created by 2020. The company aims to mass-produce iPhone, iPad and iPods for the domestic and internationals markets.

Apple currently has hold of 10 percent of the market share in India with its iPhone6 worth 44,000. Korean firm, Samsung dominates the market with Galaxy S6 at 40,000 followed by the home-bred Micromax on the second position.  

Meanwhile ‘Make In India’ initiative will proceed positively with the comeback of Foxconn to the nation which had to leave in 2014 as Nokia shut down its manufacturing in India. The arrival of Foxconn yet again looks forward to generate employment opportunities in India thereby boosting the industry.

Employment has witnessed a boost in India under PM Modi’s government however the nation still has a long way to race against tech giant China.

There are possibilities the suppliers will follow with global investors entering India according to domestic players. In India, the dearth of appropriate infrastructure and suppliers pose as the main obstacle in  the growth of manufacturing units. This has compelled companies in India to look for makers in China and Taiwan.

“The smartphone boom in India indicates the time is just right to focus on expansion plans and increasing volume in India to a comparable level with the China market in the next five years,” said Sky Li, vice president of phone manufacturer OPPO.

China leads with the largest number of mobile accounts followed by India on the second position. Analysts from the Cisco Systems are of the view that by 2019 India would have 650 million smartphones whereas the figures for the tablets would surge to 18.7 million.

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