Tech major Apple has started production of iPhone XR in India for the domestic market and exports, underlining the government’s efforts to bolster mobile manufacturing in the country, Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Monday. Prasad added that Salcomp, the world’s largest manufacturer and a major supplier of chargers to Apple for iPhone, has reached an agreement to take over a closed facility of Nokia in an SEZ near Chennai. Salcomp will revive the unit, which was closed for nearly 10 years, and it will become operational from March 2020. The unit will produce charger and other equipment, and will boast of a diversified portfolio. This will entail an investment of Rs 2,000 crore in five years. “It’s a very proud moment for India. Earlier, it (iPhone boxes) used to say designed in California and assembled in China. Now, it says assembled, manufactured and marketed, all in India. We welcome Apple . expand your operations in India. That’s our expectation,” Prasad said, showcasing a ‘Made in India’ Apple XR device. Apple, which also works with Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron in India, already makes iPhone 6S and 7 here. In September, Prasad, after a CEOs roundtable with over 50 electronics and phone companies, had exhorted Apple to expand manufacturing base in India and to use the country as export hub, promising to line up fresh incentives and sops to galvanise electronics as well as phone industry. “We have an ambition to make India a preferred destination for manufacturing. I have also instructed officers to accelerate this,” the union minister said. —FE WITH PTI
