Tatas to make iPhone in India

Pic/AFP

Tata Group is set to become India's first homegrown iPhone maker after Taiwan's Wistron Group agreed to sell a plant in Bengaluru to India's largest conglomerate.

Wistron's board approved the sale of Wistron InfoComm Manufacturing (India) Private Ltd to Tata Electronics for USD 125 million, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer said in a statement on Friday. The unit operates an iPhone assembly plant near Bengaluru.

The takeover of the Wistron Corp factory concludes about a year of negotiations. The facility employs more than 10,000 workers, who assemble the latest iPhone 14 model.

"Upon confirmation and signature of the relevant agreements by both parties, the deal will proceed to obtain the necessary approvals," Wistron said.

Apple's iPhones are mainly assembled by Taiwanese manufacturing giants like Pegatron Corp and Foxconn Technology Group.

Tata Electronics is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, the promoter of the salt-to-software conglomerate. The group is seeking to make inroads into electronics production and e-commerce. Tata Electronics already operates a manufacturing facility in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu.

Minister of State for Electronics and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar took to the X to congratulate Tata for taking over Wistron operations.

The production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme has already propelled India into becoming a trusted and major hub for smartphone manufacturing and exports.

"Now, within just two and a half years, @TataCompanies will now start making iPhones from India for domestic and global markets from India," he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Thank you @Wistron for your contributions, and great going for Apple in building a global supply chain from India with Indian companies at its helm."

He went on to state that his ministry stands fully in support of the growth of global Indian electronics companies to make India their trusted manufacturing and talent partner.

Cupertino, California-based Apple is looking beyond China amid a trade war between the US and Beijing.

In May this year, Apple's Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said India is an "incredibly exciting market" and a "major focus" for the company, as the iPhone maker highlighted that business in India "set a quarterly record, grew very strong, double-digits year-over-year".

The company charted an ambitious retail expansion in India in April this year when it launched two retail outlets in Mumbai and Delhi during Cook's first trip to the country in seven years.

"Wistron Corp held a Board of Directors meeting today and granted approval for its subsidiaries, SMS InfoComm (Singapore) Pte Ltd and Wistron Hong Kong Ltd to sign the Share Purchase Agreement with Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd (TEPL) for the sale of its 100 per cent indirect stake in Wistron InfoComm Manufacturing (India) Pvt Ltd (WMMI)," Wistron announced in the statement.

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