After registering a four-fold jump in exports of iPhones to over Rs 40,000 crore in FY23, Apple is looking at doubling or trebling its growth and investments in the country in the coming years.
After registering a four-fold jump in exports of iPhones to over Rs 40,000 crore in FY23, Apple is looking at doubling or trebling its growth and investments in the country in the coming years. One of the company’s unit in Chennai, operated by Vietnam’s Foxconn Hon Hai, has already emerged as the largest in the country in a single location in any sector, employing 35,000 people on the shop floor. Overall, along with its two other contract manufacturers, Wistron and Pegatron, Apple has generated 100,000 jobs in the last two years and is confident of doubling this in the years ahead.
“I am very confident that this Apple-India partnership has a lot of headroom for investments, growth, exports and jobs – doubling and tripling over coming years,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and information technology, said.
Chandrasekhar’s optimism comes from the fact that in the first year of its operation under the production-linked incentive scheme, ie FY22, Foxconn reached a total production of over Rs 7,500 crore. In the second year of the scheme ending March 31, 2023, the factory produced iPhones worth over Rs 30,000 crore, of which nearly 50% were exported from India.
Additionally, Apple also has two other vendors, producing iPhones under the PLI scheme – Pegatron in Tamil Nadu and Wistron in Karnataka. Together, the three companies produced over Rs 60,000 crore worth of iPhones, of which nearly Rs 40,000 crore were exported in FY23. Foxconn accounted for nearly 50% of the total production of iPhones.
Of the total, Rs 90,000 crore worth of smartphone were exported in FY23, half of which was contributed by Apple. In March itself, Apple made record exports of iPhones from India at $1.14 billion (over Rs 8,200 crore), surpassing its earlier record export in December 2022.
The company, via its three vendors, is manufacturing and exporting iPhones 12, 13, 14 and 14+ models from India.
“We share your vision of the positive impact technology can make on India’s future — from education and developers to manufacturing and the environment, we’re committed to growing and investing across the country,” Cook tweeted after meeting the Prime Minister.
On Thursday, Apple opened its second retail store at Saket in Delhi amid huge cheers and long queues of Apple products enthusiasts, similar to that in Mumbai.
While most people came only to see Apple chief Tim Cook, some came to just test the Apple portfolio of products. Despite a less number of buyers in the crowd of thousands, the Samsung store which was meters away from the Apple store was largely empty.
“Today, the hype is all about Apple and therefore we are seeing less number of people at Samsung stores at this time. The day has just started and Samsung plays in all entry-to-premium segments of products, unlike Apple,” a Samsung store executive said.
Nipun (30), a lawyer by profession, came at around 6 am in the morning just to get a glimpse of Cook and get the vibes of a premium store by Apple in Delhi.
The Delhi store is over 8,000 sq ft in area and has a curved storefront with white oak tables displaying Apple’s products and accessories. The featured Apple products in the store include iPhones, MacBooks, iPads, AirPods, Apple Watch and Apple TV etc.
Raj Hans, came all the way from Indore to experience the Apple retail store in Delhi. “Apple Watch saved my life through heart health notifications it gave. On the notification with a beep sound from the watch, I decided to get a check up in the hospital and got diagnosed with heart issues,” Hans said, adding that Apple products are life saviours.
Cook also met and interacted with several customers. One of the customers even touched Cook’s feet. Among key people, a five-year-old Ranvir also met Cook and showed his coding skills.
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The Delhi store is built on a similar theme as its Mumbai counterpart with highlights such as a dedicated Apple Pickup station, running completely on renewable energy and carbon neutral, ‘Today at Apple’ series to make people learn about Apple products, and the Genius Bar for hands-on technical and hardware support to customers.
Genius Bar appointments can help consumers with everything from setting up a device, recovering an Apple ID, selecting an AppleCare plan, or modifying subscriptions.
https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/apple-sees-upto-3x-rise-in-jobs-investments-in-india/3056254/
