Apple wants to invest in India, says RS Prasad

Apple is exploring possibility here in India. Therefore from smartphone to ordinary phone to solar panel to what not, immense potential is there in India

Technology giant Apple and other global players are exploring opportunities to invest in India’s electronic segment

Technology giant Apple and other global players are exploring opportunities to invest in India's electronic segment, which has attracted investments of over ₹1.2 lakh crore so far, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today.

"When I became minister, we had ₹11,198 crore of investments in electronic manufacturing. I am happy to tell you, now it is ₹1.2 lakh crore plus which has been invested in India or committed," Prasad said at the annual session of industry body.

A Bloomberg report quoted a source who claimed that the Indian government was pushing Apple's application. He added that the company will resubmit the application as it was not in the right format without giving a timeline for the final approval. India is an important market to Apple since their growth in China is nearing stagnation.

"Most of the growth in India will come from new users coming into the Apple ecosystem, unlike in the West where growth is mainly from existing users upgrading," Tarun Pathak, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, was quoted as saying. "You can expect the stores to focus mostly on iPhones."

He said that last year 111 million mobile phones were manufactured in India, logging a growth rate of 81 percent in production.

"Today all the big companies from Taiwan to .... have come in India. Apple is exploring possibility here in India. Therefore from smartphone to ordinary phone to solar panel to what not, immense potential is there in India . We have got a proper incentive scheme available including electronics clusters," Prasad said.

However, the minister did not divulge details on Apple's plans that whether the iPhone maker was exploring possibilities in retail segment or in manufacturing.

Prasad said that Digital India is going to create USD 1 trillion economy which will include USD 400 billion worth of electronics market, USD 350 billion worth IT and ITes sector and ₹250 billion communication business.