Apple’s iPhone exports from India increased by about one-third in the September half. This indicates Apple’s increasing production in India and reduced dependence on China. The company exported iPhones made in India worth $6 billion, which increased by one-third year-on-year in terms of value. It is expected that Apple’s annual exports will cross $1 billion in FY 2024. Apple is expanding in India and last year CEO Tim Cook opened its stores in Mumbai and New Delhi. Now four more stores will be opened soon in four cities.
Apple is increasing manufacturing in India
Apple is rapidly expanding its manufacturing network in India. It is benefiting from local subsidies, skilled workforce and the country’s advanced technological capabilities. India is an important part for Apple in its efforts to reduce its dependence on China. Due to the tension between America and China, Apple is focusing on strengthening its position outside China. As part of this effort, it is emphasizing manufacturing in India. Its three suppliers, Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group and Pegatron Corp and India’s Tata Electronics are assembling iPhones in South India.
Half of these iPhones are being manufactured by Foxconn on the outskirts of Chennai. Tata Group’s electronics manufacturing unit in Karnataka exported iPhones worth $1.7 billion in the September quarter. Tata had purchased this unit from Wistron last year. This value is the factory gate value, not the retail price.
Laggard in domestic market but lion in export
iPhone dominates the smartphone exports from India. According to the data of the Trade Ministry, iPhones worth $288 crore were exported to the US in the first five months of this financial year. Five years ago, that is, before increasing manufacturing in India, Apple’s annual iPhone export to the US was only $52 lakh. However, if we talk about the domestic market now, Apple has a mere 7 percent share in the smartphone market here and it is behind Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo.
