Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Information Technology and Electronics on Tuesday said that Apple has created more than one lakh jobs in the manufacturing sector in the country in the last 24 months.
"Propelled by PM @narendramodiji's visionary PLI scheme @Appleecosystem has generated over 1 lakh new direct jobs in manufacturing over the last 24 months," Chandrasekhar said in a tweet.
"70% of these are 19-24 yr women, who are starting their careers, acquiring skills and improving the ease of living for their families," his tweet said.
The development comes amidst Apple CEO Tim Cook’s ongoing visit to India to open the company’s flagship stores in the country. Apple, which has had a presence in India for 25 years, opened its first retail store, Apple BKC, in Mumbai on Tuesday. The company will open its second store, Apple Saket, in Delhi on April 20.
Last week, the minister said that Apple exports hit $5 billion in FY23, thus registering a 400% growth last year propelled by the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme in the country. “Propelled by PM @narendramodiji visionary PLI scheme Apple hits $ 5 bn exports in FY2023, a 400% growth over last year. Total smartphone exports touch $ 10bn + for the first time ever. Congratulations to the @Apple team, their vendors and the wider Smartphone manufacturing ecosystem. @GoI_MeitY will work shoulder to shoulder with Industry to achieve greater heights,” the minister said in a tweet.
Notably, Apple’s contract supplier Foxconn, last month announced the setting up of a major manufacturing facility in Telangana, which will create job opportunities for more than 1,00,000 people. Taiwanese electronics major Hon Hai Technology group's subsidiary Foxconn and the Telangana government have signed an MoU, under which the company will invest in the state and create more than 1 lakh jobs in the 10-year period.
Meanwhile, Wistron, which is Apple’s second supplier has a 2.2 million square foot factory in Bengaluru and has a business worth $600 million in the country. Wistron’s India plant currently manufactures iPhone 12 and iPhone 14 in India.
According to a recent report by Bloomberg, over the past few years, the iPhone maker has nearly doubled its production in the country. According to the report, at present the company manufactures 7% of its total iPhones in India, up from 1% in 2021. Last fiscal year, the company assembled over $7 billion worth of iPhones in the country.
In February this year, Cook, during the December quarter earnings call said that the iPhone maker's India business "set a quarterly revenue record and grew very strong double digits year-over-year." "India is a hugely exciting market for us and is a major focus. We brought the online store there in 2020. We will soon bring Apple retail there," Cook said.
The Cupertino, California-headquartered tech giant is putting a lot of emphasis on the Indian market. "There's been a lot done from financing options and trade-ins to make products more affordable and give people more options to buy. And so there's a lot going on there," the Apple CEO said.
"We actually did fairly well through COVID in India. And I'm even more bullish now on the other side of it, or hopefully, on the other side of it. And that's the reason why we're investing there. We're bringing retail there and bringing the online store there and putting a significant amount of energy there," he added.
