- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
The Indian conglomerate was set to accomplish the feat after Apple supplier Wistron Corp agreed to sell it a plant in the southern Indian state of Karnataka for $125 million.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group will begin making Apple iPhones in the country for both domestic and global markets within two-and-half years, the country’s minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Friday (27). The Indian company was set to achieve the feat after Taiwan’s Wistron Corp, supplier of Apple, agreed to sell it a plant in the southern part of India.
The unit operates an iPhone assembly plant near Bengaluru in the state of Karnataka, the Times of India reported citing a source.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Chandrasekhar said, “@GoI_MeitY stands fully in support in growth of Global Indian Electronics companies that will in turn support global Electronic brands that want to make India their trusted manufacturing and talent partner and to realize PM’s goal of making India a global electronics power.
“PM @narendramodi Ji’s visionary PLI scheme has already propelled India into becoming a trusted & major hub for smartphone manufacturing and exports. Now within just two and a half years, @TataCompanies will now start making iPhones from India for domestic and global markets from India.”
MeitY stands for the ministry of electronics and information technology.
The development brings to the fore not only India’s growing production prowess but also a change in Apple’s earlier strategy of selling mostly Chinese-made devices across the world.
PM @narendramodi Ji's visionary PLI scheme has already propelled India into becoming a trusted & major hub for smartphone manufacturing and exports.
Now within just two and a half years, @TataCompanies will now start making iPhones from India for domestic and global markets from… pic.twitter.com/kLryhY7pvL
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar ?? (@Rajeev_GoI) October 27, 2023
According to a report in Bloomberg, Wistron’s board approved the sale of Wistron InfoComm Manufacturing (India) Ltd to the Tata Group for $125 million (£103 million), the Taiwanese electronics manufacturing firm said in a statement on Friday.
Chandrasekhar also thanked Wistron for “building a global supply chain from India with Indian companies at its helm”.
“Thank you @Wistron for your contributions, and great going for Apple in building a global supply chain from India with Indian companies at its helm,” he said in his X post.
The PLI (production-linked incentive) scheme — which aims at promoting domestic manufacturing, creating employment opportunities and supporting exports — was announced in 2021 for 14 sectors, including large-scale electronic manufacturing, white goods, textiles, manufacturing of medical devices, automobiles, specialty steel, food products, high-efficiency solar PV modules, advanced chemistry cell battery, drones and pharmaceuticals with an outlay of around Rs 2 lakh crore (£19.8 billion).
Earlier this year, Indian commerce and industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that Apple exported goods worth around $5 billion (£4.1 billion) from India last year, while stating that the company aims to produce 25 per cent of global units in the country within the next four to five years.
The takeover of the Wistron Corp factory in Karnataka by the Tata Group has come after about a year of negotiations.
