Apple vendor looks to shift six production lines from China to India: Report

In yet another blow for China, a contract manufacturer for Apple is eyeing to shift six production lines of iPhones worth $5 billion to India, the Times of India reported.

The establishment of the Indian facility is expected to employ around 55,000 workers over a year, sources told the publication. The operations may expand over the years to include tablets, laptops and computers as well.

This move is an addition to the simmering global trade tensions with China after the communist country tried to suppress the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan which has subsequently been labelled as a pandemic. India has been eyeing the opportunity to lap up global giants like Apple and several others who are now contemplating their exit from China and looking to shift base.

Read: Apple's Taiwan suppliers, Samsung apply for India's production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme scheme

Container loads of goods from Apple’s key manufacturer have already reached India, said the report.

Meanwhile, Apple Inc's Taiwan contract manufacturers Foxconn, Wistron Corp and Pegatron Corp have applied for funds from India's scheme to boost smartphone manufacturing.

As many as 22 domestic and international firms, including iPhone maker Apple's contract manufacturers as well as Samsung, Lava and Dixon have submitted the proposal under the government's Rs 41,000-crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

Apple assembles some smartphones, including the iPhone 11, at Foxconn and Wistron's plants in two southern Indian states. Pegatron, one of Apple's top suppliers, has yet to open a plant in India but is in talks with various states to set up operations, according to sources. Foxconn plans to invest up to $1 billion to expand a factory in Tamil Nadu state where it assembles iPhones, sources told Reuters last month.

(With inputs from Reuters)