Apple continues to make moves to reduce its reliance on China as a base for its iPhone production, as The Indian Economic Times reports Apple could be planning to produce up to $40 billion worth of iPhones in India through contract manufacturers Wistron and Foxconn.
The publication reports that several meetings have taken place between Apple’s senior executives and top-ranking government officials over the last few months, paving the way for the iPhone maker to possibly shift up to 20% of its production capacity from China to India. That could result in the Cupertino firm scaling up its local manufacturing revenues, through its contract manufacturers, to around $40 billion over the next five years, say “officials familiar with the matter.”
A senior government official told the publication that the decision is being linked to India’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, which is intended to boost local manufacturing of electrical products, particularly smartphones like the iPhone.
In order to benefit from the scheme, a company must manufacture at least $10 billion worth of mobile phones in a phased manner between 2020 and 2025. They are also required to meet the target on a yearly basis.
Currently, Apple sells $1.5 billion of phones in India. In contrast, in 2018-2019 Apple produced $220 billion worth of products in China.
Indian government officials are reportedly ready and willing to look into concerns that Apple has with the PLI scheme. Apple concerns include how it values plant and machinery already in use in China, and the extent of the business information required under the government plan.