Apple iPhone makers are said to be one among the companies that are expected to win approval to participate in a 6.6 billion US Dollars program that aims on bringing manufacturing to India.
For those unaware, the Indian government recently announced that it is expecting to approve a plan that aims at bringing 150 billion US Dollars worth of smartphone production into the country over the course of the next five years. According to a Bloomberg report, sources close to the matter said that known iPhone assemblers like Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron have already been cleared by the government committee for the program.
These three companies essentially produce almost every iPhone old in the world, with a majority of their assembly lines being located in China. Now, with the added incentive of the PLI (Production Linked Incentive) program, the government is trying to offer manufacturing incentives to some of the world’s largest smartphone brands to make their products in India and export to the world.
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Apart from the iPhone assemblers, Samsung is the only other applicant for the five slots allotted to foreign companies. Notably, popular Chinese brands like Oppo and Vivo are clearly missing from the list, which might be indicative of the rising trend of countries reducing dependence on China. Hari Om Rai, chairman and founder of Lava (an Indian OEM) stated that “It’s a thoughtful move by the government aimed at wooing Apple to bring significant iPhone manufacturing to India because, when the iPhone maker shifts, an entire ecosystem follows.”
At the moment, Chinese brands have been the most dominant companies in the Indian smartphone market. An analyst said that “Chinese brands have driven out domestic phone companies, leaving them with a mere 2% market share.” So the move also aims to strengthen local brands while also bringing in incentives for other international players to help boost the economy as well.
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