Foxconn Planning Apple Plant in India?

The smartphone market in India is competitive and indeed vibrant. But how can a tech giant such as Apple that produces mostly premium-class iPhones have a stronghold here?

The answer (and this has been debated time and again) is local manufacturing of iPhones. At present Apple supplier Foxconn, which has been in the news for all wrong reasons in recent years for its factories’ working conditions in China, is making plans to open up a new Apple plant in India.

Foxconn is in talks with stakeholders to manufacture iPhones in India, reports Reuters. The move could help lower prices of Apple devices in India and likewise encourage greater adoption.

“Foxconn is sending a delegation of their officers to scout for locations in a month’s time,” Subhash Desai, Maharashtra industries minister told Reuters, adding that Foxconn has said it is aiming to develop 10-12 facilities in India, including factories and data centres by 2020.

Desai said Foxconn had yet to make any firm commitment, but he said the group was looking to manufacture iPhones, iPads and iPods, both for domestic as well as

global sales.

Apple’s iPhone 6 with 16 GB sells for around Rs 44,000 ($687.82) in India, as against Samsung’s Galaxy S6 with 32 GB which sells for around 40,000 rupees ($625.29). At present, it has 10 percent market share in India, way behind Samsung and local manufacturers such as Micromax, which dominate the market, according to Counterpoint Research.

For Foxconn, this would be a comeback. The company previously operated in the country manufacturing phones for Nokia, the mobile-devices business that was acquired by Microsoft last year.

The company was forced to shut up shop in India last year after client Nokia closed - would be a major victory for India, which badly needs to turn its tech boom into a manufacturing and employment boost, says a TOI report.

This is always the right time to enter India’s manufacturing domain, as the country is reviving manufacturing under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make In India initiative. However, the country is yet to catch up with its rival China in manufacturing of technology goods.

Experts believe that as global companies invest in the country, suppliers will follow. A lack of good infrastructure and suppliers are the biggest hurdles to making technology