American multinational technology company Apple is increasingly moving to- wards using India-based factories for its products. In the recently released sup- pliers’ list, 14 such facilities that provide material for, and manufacturing and assembly of Apple prod- ucts are based in India. In the last fiscal year, the total number of such India-based facilities was 11.
However, a detailed study of these supplier lists sug- gests that many of these fa- cilities are headquartered in China. These companies include Zhen Ding Tech- nology Holding Limited, which operates a facility in Chennai, Tamil Nadu; Sun- woda Electronic Company Limited, which has an office in Noida Sector 63, Uttar Pradesh; Shenzhen YUTO Packaging Technology Company Limited, located in Bangalore, Karnataka; and Shenzhen Everwin Precision Technology Com- pany Limited, Lingyi iTech (Guangdong) Company, which has an office in Tamil Nadu.
In all, 151 such facilities that were producing com- ponents for Apple are based in China, 45 in Japan, 41 in Taiwan, 32 in the United States, 25 each in South Ko- rea and Vietnam, 21 in Sin- gapore, 18 in Thailand, 17 in Malaysia, 14 in Philippines, 8 in Germany, 2 in Austria, 2 each in United Kingdom, Indonesia, Netherlands and Ireland and one each in Bel- gium and Czech Republic. Similarly, three India-based smelters and refiners are among the list of entities
that assist Apple in pro- ducing its final products. Post Covid-19 and amid the in- creasing tension between the United States and China, where the majority of its products are manufactured, Apple has put a conscious effort to diversify into other regions which offer similar comparatively cheap labour, political stability, uninter- rupted power supply, proper civic and road infrastructure and a strong law and order system that had made China its first choice.
Sources in the industry be- lieve that Apple can start in- vesting heavily in India, but it was faced with the choice of limited options as far as sites are concerned.
“Some Indian states fail when it comes to law and or- der management, almost all states have perennial issues with roads and similar basic civic amenities. There are multiple states where cheap labour, water and power are not an issue, but they fail to meet the standards when it comes to policing and roads. A company like Apple, which has deep pockets, has no shortage of countries that will want it to invest there. If India wants to ensure that by the end of financial year 2025, it has at least 40-50 Apple suppliers, it needs to ask states to start focusing on its weaknesses. Apple wants to move more of its resources to India, but time is of the essence,” a subject expert, who works closely with big tech giants told The Sunday Guardian. With a market capitalization of US$2.81 tril- lion as of May 2023, Apple is the world’s largest company in 2023. The GDP of India is $3.1 trillion.