‘Apple continuously expanding ops in India’

ROME: US-based iPhone maker Apple is continuously expanding its operations in India and the government is in regular touch with the company to support its business, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has said.

He said the electronics industry works like this as first they put a basic set up and then they keep sourcing different components to add into their ecosystem.

“Apple is continuously expanding their operations in India... We are in regular touch with the Apple, MeITY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) is also in touch with them... We hand-hold them because in a way, the eyes of the whole world are fixed on Apple,” he said when asked about Apple’s plan to start full-fledged manufacturing unit in India.

The company gets iPhones manufactured by electronics giants -- Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron in India.

The minister has earlier stated that India’s exports of mobile and electronics goods have doubled in the last year. “Apple itself has exported about $5 billion worth of goods last year from India and they are planning to have 25 per cent of their global production coming out of India in the next 4 or 5 years,” he said. Apple will next week open its first retail store in India, in signs of importance the iPhone manufacturer attaches to the world’s fastest growing smartphone market.

Apple will open its first official store in Mumbai on April 18 and the second in Delhi on April 20. At present it sells its products in India through exclusive Apple Premium Reseller stores, large format retail chains like Reliance Digital, Croma, among others.