After meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar told The Indian Express that he was “quite confident that the partnership between Apple and India has a lot of headroom for growth”. Cook, who is visiting India after nearly seven years to launch the company’s official stores in the country – in Mumbai’s BKC and New Delhi’s Saket – met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday, followed by meetings with IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Chandrasekhar. “We discussed our goal of broadening and deepening India’s electronics ecosystem. I also invited Apple to grow its research and development footprint in the country and its apps ecosystem,” Chandrasekhar told this paper. The two also discussed opportunities for employment creation and skilling people in the electronics sector. Vaishnaw, in a tweet, said, “Met with Tim Cook, CEO, Apple. Discussed deepening Apple’s engagement in India across manufacturing, electronics exports, app economy, skilling, sustainability and job creation, especially for women. Jointly charting a long-term and strong relationship”. After meeting with PM, Cook said Apple was committed to “growing and investing across the country”. “We share your vision of the positive impact technology can make on India’s future — from education and developers to manufacturing and the environment, we’re committed to growing and investing across the country,” he said in a tweet. Cook has earlier outlined that he was “very bullish” on India ahead of Apple’s store launches, outlining how the world’s most valuable company is viewing the Indian market. After years of offering its products through an extensive reseller network and e-commerce websites, the company’s retail push in India comes from solid financials and a changing geopolitical scenario forcing Apple to forge meaningful global alliances outside China. India, experts say, presents that opportunity. Apple’s push comes amid its efforts to build out-production capabilities in India. The Cupertino tech giant has started manufacturing the iPhone 14 in India. According to experts, the Centre’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for smartphone manufacturing has incentivised Apple. According to industry executives who track trade data, iPhone exports from India crossed the $5 billion mark in FY ’23.
