- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
American tech giant Apple could double or even treble investments in India, along with exports, in the next few years, a minister said, as the company on Thursday (20) inaugurated a second store in the South Asian nation where its chief executive Tim Cook was present, Reuters reported.
India is the world’s second-biggest market for smartphones after China.
Apple has plans to expand into iPads and AirPods in India as it eyes less reliance on China which currently has a sour relation with the US.
According to data from the India Cellular and Electronics Association, Apple’s iPhones constituted more than half of total smartphones worth about $9 billion exported from India between April 2022 and February this year.
“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,” India’s minister of state for information technology rajeev Chandrasekhar was quoted as saying by Reuters.
He made the remarks after a meeting with Cook in New Delhi on Wednesday (19).
Cook, who also met prime minister Narendra Modi, said Apple was “committed to growing and investing across the country”.
The twin events of opening of Apple stores in Mumbai and New Delhi inside three days in the presence of Cook received a warm response and extensive media coverage.
Apple previously faced challenges in opening physical retail stores in India but its products have been available on e-commerce websites. Its online store opened in 2020.
However, the maker’s costly phones can be afforded by only a few in India where its market share is just three per cent.
