“Made in India” iPads are one step closer, as the country’s government has approved an incentive plan that could benefit the likes of Apple, Reuters reports.
The publication notes that:
“India on Wednesday approved a 73.5 billion rupee ($1.02 billion) plan to boost local manufacturing and exports of IT products such as laptops, tablets, personal computers and servers, the technology minister said. The production-linked incentive (PLI) plan will help India export IT goods worth 2.45 trillion rupees, minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told a news conference.”
The report notes that, under the scheme, manufacturers can get between 1% and 4% cash back for “additional sales of locally made goods over four years.” Reuters explicitly mentions Apple as a likely beneficiary of the scheme — and mentions plans to build iPads.
Apple suppliers Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron are all in various phases of setting up operations in India. They have committed to investing approximately $990 million to build iPhones in India as part of a $6.7 billion PLI plan launched by the Indian government. Now it seems that other Apple products might follow suit. Some iPhone models have been made in India since 2017.
Apple in India
India is a growing market for Apple in terms of importance. As with China, it serves two main purposes to Apple: both as a manufacturing hub and a possible customer base. Apple has had limited success so far selling its products in India, although it is carving out an ever-increasing part of the high-end market.
It also last year opened its Apple Online Store in India for the first time. It is additionally gearing up to open a brick-and-mortar Apple Store in India, the first in company history.
By building iPads in India, Apple could continue to slightly lessen its reliance on China, the company’s current manufacturing base.
Source: Reuters
