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India is reportedly making a big push to become a major player in the global electronics manufacturing industry. According to a forecast by Luke Lin, an analyst at the research unit of Taiwan's DigiTimes newspaper, India is likely to produce half of the world's iPhones by 2027, compared to the current state of less than 5%.
Apple exported more than $2.5 billion of iPhones from India from April to December, nearly double the previous fiscal year's total. This move is a paradigm shift from Apple's traditional practice of reserving most of its manufacturing for giant Chinese factories run by its main Taiwanese assemblers, such as Foxconn.
India's rapidly growing manufacturing sector, coupled with government incentives and support, has made it an attractive destination for tech giants like Apple to shift their production to. Foxconn, Apple's largest supplier, began building facilities in India more than five years ago in anticipation of a change in the manufacturing roadmap of key players like Apple. In addition, the Indian government is also playing a significant role in this push by providing new incentives for electronics manufacturing within the country. For instance, Foxconn has already won INR 3.6 billion in benefits in the first year of the production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme.
Many experts believe that this push by the Indian government will result in a significant increase in manufacturing for tech companies like Apple. The company's three contract manufacturers - Foxconn, Pegatron, and Wistron - are expected to ramp up production and exports, driven by the government's PLI scheme.
My latest survey indicates Foxconn's iPhone production site in India will ship the new 6.1" iPhone 14 almost simultaneously with China for the first time in 2H22 (India being one quarter or more behind in the past).
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) August 5, 2022
This is in line with Apple Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's prediction that Foxconn will accelerate capacity expansion at its India plant. He said, "As a result, iPhones made by Foxconn in India will grow by at least 150% on-year in 2023, and the medium/long-term goal is to ship 40-45% of iPhones from India (versus the current 2-4%)."
Currently, Apple makes iPhone SE, iPhone 12, iPhone 13, and iPhone 14 (basic) models in India. However, it may be mentioned that all Pro models of the iPhone sold in the country are imported. With predictions that India will produce half of the world's iPhones by 2027, it is clear that the country is well on its way to achieving its goal of becoming a major electronics manufacturing hub in the world.