New Delhi: Tata Group, the country’s biggest conglomerate, may be on its way to becoming India’s first iPhone maker. The Tata Group is said to be in advanced talks with Wistron Corp factory for acquisition of its iPhone manufacturing plant and reports say that the deal could fructify in days & months to come. If Tata Group inks the deal with Wistron Corp to acquire its iPhone manufacturing facility, this will give a big impetus to Made in India drive and would become a force multiplier in Apple’s iPhone manufacturing business in India. This would also mark foray of India’s first company into the iPhone assembly business. Wistron Corp is said to be leading Apple’s biggest production unit in India. Located in Southern Karnataka, its factory is valued at over $600 million and employs more than 10,000 workers. The company is spearheading the production of Apple’s iPhone 14 latest model. The development comes on back of Wistron’s inability to reap profits from iPhone business and Apple’s focus on ramping up production. Report claims Wistron has promised Apple to ship $1.8 billion dollar worth of iPhones by March 2024. “This will be honoured by new Indian owner,” a leading business portal reported. Apple’s thrust on moving business out of China Understandably, Apple has set its focus on restructuring its businesses in Asian countries and is looking for ways to reduce its dependence on China units, mainly because of rising US-China tensions and Corona pandemic. iPhone’s ‘Made in India’ era ‘Made in India’ iPhones are already a reality. Post the acquisition by Tatas, the production is set to rise exponentially. Recently, CNN, one of US’ most reputed news channel discussed whether it was the beginning of iPhone’s Made in India era. It also cited Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s comments that Apple was making 5-7% of its products in India and it wanted to scale up this percentage to no less than 25%. Currently, Apple commands a major share of India’s smartphone exports. It currently exports 80% of all smartphones made in India, rest 20% is covered by other brands.
