Apple to manufacture more than 50 mn iPhones, 25 pct of its annual global production in India

Apple and its suppliers will be manufacturing more than 50 million iPhones in India going forward. The India hub will fulfill one-fourth of the total global production of the smartphones.

Apple and its suppliers aim to build more than 50 million iPhones in India each year, within the next two to three years, with additional tens of millions of units planned thereafter. (Bloomberg)

Apple has major plans for India. According to a report, Apple and its suppliers will manufacture as many as 50 million units of iPhone each year. This number will be as much as one-fourth or 25 percent of the global production of iPhones. The factories in India will be ramped up to meet the production demand in the next two to three years. The production quantity is expected to be increased even further, once the current plan is reached. After that additional tens of millions of units of iPhones will be added to the lineup.

The information comes from a report by the Wall Street Journal, which stated, “Apple and its suppliers, led by Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group, generally believe the initial push into India has gone well and are laying the groundwork for a bigger expansion, say people involved in the supply chain”.

Tata lays the groundwork as Apple plans production expansion in India

Conglomerate Tata Group plans to build one of India's biggest iPhone assembly plants, tapping Apple Inc.'s ambitions to increase manufacturing in the South Asian country, as per Bloomberg.

Tata wants to construct the factory in Hosur in the southern Tamil Nadu state, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The facility will likely have about 20 assembly lines and employ 50,000 workers within two years, according to the people, who declined to be named discussing unannounced plans. The goal is for the site to be operational in 12 to 18 months, claims Bloomberg.

The plant would bolster Apple's efforts to localize its supply chain and strengthen its partnership with Tata, which already has an iPhone factory it acquired from Wistron Corp. in the neighboring Karnataka state. Apple is diversifying its operations away from China by working with assembly and component manufacturing partners in India, Thailand, Malaysia and elsewhere.

The Indian conglomerate has taken other steps to increase its business with Apple and expand beyond its traditional businesses that range from salt to software. It has accelerated hiring at its existing facility in Hosur, where it produces iPhone enclosures, or metal casings. Tata has also said it'll launch 100 retail stores focused on Apple products. For its part, Apple has opened two stores in the nation and is planning three more.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's production-linked subsidies have spurred Apple's key suppliers such as Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group and Pegatron Corp. to ramp up in India. That helped Apple assemble more than $7 billion of iPhones in India in the previous fiscal year, increasing the country's share of the device's production to about 7%. The rest are assembled in China, which until a few years ago made all of them.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)