Apple assembly partner Wistron is reportedly hiring up to 10,000 extra staff for its iPhone plant in Narasapura, India.
The New Indian Express reports the Taiwanese manufacturer is expected to kick off the commercial production of iPhones at its Kolar district plant in just a few days.
The manufacturing facility in Kolar is expected to generate around 10,000 jobs. As per the Karnataka Industrial Policy, 70 per cent of jobs should be given to locals. Accordingly, at least 7,000 people from Karnataka are expected to get jobs here. The company is believed to have already recruited about 2,000 people so far.
“We are happy to note that recruitment process has begun,” said Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary to India’s Industries and Commerce Department. He added that they are “going to start production soon.” Wistron has not yet confirmed the news.
The plant, located approximately 40 miles outside of Bengaluru – which came online in April – is believed to specialize in PCB assembly. A PCB serves as a base for iPhone components, including processors, storage, and memory, and can account for as much as half of the costs of building a smartphone.
Assembling PCBs inside India allows Apple to avoid the taxes levied by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to boost local manufacturing and create new jobs. Modi’s “Made in India” initiative requires that 30% of products sold by foreign companies be manufactured or produced within the country.
Apple also looks at India as its next iPhone sales growth opportunity. The country is the world’s second-largest smartphone market, bust just 25% of Indians own a smartphone. Apple also looks at the company as a new base of production, as it looks to diversify its supply chains and move away from its reliance on China as its main operations base.
Apple suppliers Wistron, Pegatron, Foxconn, and Samsung, are all expected to set up production facilities in India
