Govt not in favour of more tax sops to Apple

The Commerce Ministry is not in favour of giving extra tax sops to Apple which has evinced interest in setting up production units in India. Government sources said Apple is seeking concessions that no other company is getting on Indian soil. It is seeking tweak in local sourcing norms for manufacturing in India.

Earlier in June, soon after the visit of Apple CEO Tim Cook to India, the government had reversed the rules for foreign investment in single brand retail. It had paved the way for US technology giant to open stores in India. The government had relaxed norms on 30% mandatory production on Indian soil. It had also relaxed sourcing regime for another five years for entities undertaking single brand retail trading of products having state-of-art and ‘cutting-edge technology’.

The cutting-edge clause gave Apple to enjoy the relaxation for five years. Apple had pleaded to the government that it had cutting-edge technology and hence it should be given relaxation. The company enjoys similar relation in China. Of late, sources said Apple may have asked for more relaxations to which the commerce ministry did not agree.

Apple sells its products in the country through third-party distributors but its revenues from India has grown more than 60% in the last one year. India is world’s second largest smartphone market and according to analysts, Apple sees it as an opportunity, especially after the slowdown of China.