Apple assembled iPhones worth more than Rs 1,89,000 crore in India, a blow to China
American devices maker Apple manufactured iPhones worth $22 billion (about Rs 1,89,412 crore) in the country last fiscal. This is an increase of about 60 percent in the assembly of iPhones in India compared to the previous financial year. This indicates the company’s plan to shift some part of the manufacturing from China.
In a Bloomberg report, quoting sources with knowledge of the company, it has been told that about 20 percent of the total manufacturing of iPhones is being done in India. This shows that Apple and its suppliers are strengthening their position in the country. Apple’s largest manufacturing plant in China was greatly affected due to the lockdown during Corona. After this, the company had planned to shift some part of its manufacturing from China.
Most of the iPhones in India are assembled at the factory of Apple’s contract manufacturer Foxconn. Apart from this, Tata Group’s electronics manufacturing unit also assembles iPhones. Apple did not respond to a request for comment on this. In the last financial year, iPhone’s share in the export of smartphones from the country was about Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Taiwan’s Foxconn assembled about 1.2 crore iPhones in the country last year. This year Foxconn plans to assemble about three crore units of iPhone.
Foxconn may benefit from the announcement of tax exemption on import of smartphone parts in this year’s budget. Apple also plans to start manufacturing AirPods, MacBook and iPad in the country. Foxconn’s Hyderabad plant is set to start manufacturing AirPods for export. To avoid tariffs imposed on many countries by US President Donald Trump, Apple recently sent about 15 lakh iPhones to the US from India via chartered cargo flights. The weight of these iPhones is 600 tonnes. The US is one of the biggest markets for the company.
