Cook says Apple is committed to increasing investments in India and indicated that the iPhone maker will expand manufacturing and distribution here

Global electronics major Apple Inc.’s CEO Tim Cook has said that the company is very bullish and optimistic about India and is focussing all its energies on the market.

While addressing the third quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Cook also said that Apple is committed to increasing investments in India and indicated that the iPhone maker will expand manufacturing and distribution here.

“We are investing in India…we’ve already launched an app accelerator centre. That’s on top of working with the channel and looking at expanding our go-to-market in general. And we began to produce the iPhone SE there during the quarter. And so we’re bringing all of our energies to bear there. I see a lot of similarities to where China was several years ago,” Cook said.

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Apple has been aggressively looking at India market of late, after it started witnessing flat sales in China, one of its major markets. Increasing production costs have also forced the company to turn the focus to India. The firm, in partnership with Taiwanese design company Wistron, has already started iPhone SE assembling operations in Bangalore.

Apple is now planning full-fledged manufacturing operations in India by bringing its component makers under one roof. It recently approached the government seeking rebate in custom duty on import of equipment for manufacturing, but the government did not accept the requests.

As of now, Apple holds just two per cent of the Indian cell phone market, which is dominated by affordable Chinese brands, such as Xiaomi, Lenovo, OnePlus, and Oppo. The higher costs for iPhones in India, due to custom duties, are forcing consumers to go for cheaper handsets coming from China. Apple’s plans to start massive production in India will see iPhones cost coming down.

In April this year, Apple announced the opening of its App Accelerator in India’s IT hub of Bangalore. The accelerator provides specialised support for developers, including tools and best practices to hone their skills and transform the design, quality and performance of their apps on the iOS platform.

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