Education
Suppliers of Apple's Taiwan, Samsung contribute to India's handset scheme
Apple Inc's Taiwan contract manufacturers Foxconn, Wistron Corp and Pegatron Corp have applied for India's $6.65 billion scheme to improve local mobile production, the country's tech minister said Saturday.
The production-linked incentive (PLI) program provides monetary rewards to businesses for increased purchases of products produced locally over five years, with 2019-2020 as the base year. India hopes that it will help turn the nation into a regional center for mobile exports, much like neighboring China.
Apple has already manufactured some of its smartphones, including the iPhone 11, via Foxconn and Wistron in two southern Indian states.
Pegatron, one of Apple's biggest manufacturers, is yet to open a plant in India, but, according to reports, is in negotiations with different states to set up operations.
South Korean Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has also applied for PLIs, technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told a news conference.
Samsung runs what it calls the world's biggest cell phone production facility on the suburbs of the Indian capital, New Delhi. This also exports machinery produced at the factory.
Lava, which once produced several models for China's Lenovo, was among the Indian companies that applied for the program, Prasad said.
India's smartphone industry is a bright spot in the economy of the South Asian country, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's focus on local production in an attempt to build employment.
With more than 1 billion cellular subscribers still on mobile phones, and some 350 million users still on basic phones, India is giving smartphone makers massive space for expansion.
The labour, which is cheaper than that of China, also helps businesses to manufacture or assemble at lower prices.
And there are businesses ramping up.
Foxconn said it plans to invest up to $1 billion to expand a factory in Tamil Nadu state where it assembles iPhones, sources told Reuters last month.
