Apple will start making iPhones in south Indian state of Karnataka, the state's government officials said in a statement. The officials said they welcomed the proposal from the tech company to begin initial manufacturing operations in the state, the capital of Karnatake is a tech hub Bangalore.
Apparently, Apple has 2% of India's mobile phone market, but well behind their rival Samsung. However, Apple has confirmed it is keen to invest significantly in India for manufacturing processes, but hasn't yet confirmed any near future plans.
Despite a considerable low percentage of sales, Apple has almost half of the markets for premium phones, whose pricing starts at around $450 per item, in addition its sales are growing faster day by day.
It is reported that Apple has held several meetings with the government officials at both state and national level, it is understood they are keen to pressurise for concessions before going ahead with such a significant move to a country where phone manufacturing isn't the greatest.
Minister of information technology and biotechnology in Karnataka, Priyank Khagre told a news agency that they have a good understanding with Apple and expect them to start the manufacturing process by end of April. It is said that the plant is set up by a Taiwanese manufacturing company Wistron Corp.
Company's biggest manufacturing is Taiwanese giant Foxconn, which runs the biggest iPhone factory in the world situated in China. Apple is currently unable to open its own branded stores in India, who has a raft of rules to curb the activities of foreign companies.
For the company to be able to sell its products directly to customers in India, it has to source 30% of the components of its products locally. This past week, it was reported that the company has its first rise in sales in nine months after strong Christmas sales of the iPhone 7.
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