Apple CEO Tim Cook applauded Indian PM Modi’s demonetization move

“Apple CEO Tim Cook is learnt to have applauded demonetisation in his conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and told him: ‘No one else in the world would have done that,’” a top source told The Indian Express,” Shubhajit Roy reports for The Indian Express. “Cook briefed Modi on the manufacture of the iPhone SE in India and development of an app accelerator, for which 100,000 app creators are in India. ‘This number will expand,’ he is learnt to have told Modi.”

“Under the Make in India initiative, Cook said he was grateful for the cooperation in giving permission for the iPhone SE, which was done in ‘record time,'” Roy reports. “‘Exporting those is the objective. Will go for Phase II of production,’ he told Modi.”

Roy reports, “Writing an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Modi said bilateral trade, which already totals about $115 billion a year, is poised for a multifold increase. ‘Indian companies are adding value to the manufacturing and services sectors in the US, with total investments of approximately $15 billion and a presence in more than 35 states, including in the Rust Belt. American companies have likewise fuelled their global growth by investing more than $20 billion in India.'”

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“As the Indian government scrapped 86.9% of the currency in circulation in one go in November last year, critics shouted that it will put a spoke on the India growth cycle, sending shock waves through an economy largely dependent on cash,” Kumar Ray reports for the Hindustan Times. “But government data showed that despite some economic pain last year, it is now well-poised to rebound during 2017-18.”

“While economists and experts sparred over the extent of the damage to Asia’s third largest and world’s fastest growing emerging nation, many believe the decision to scrap old Rs 500/1,000 notes crimped economic activity in some sectors,” Ray reports. “‘Bypassing the risk of slowdown post-demonetisation, the Indian economy is estimated to grow at 7.1% in FY17, according to the CSO. This number would be met…as Q4 growth would be in the same range,’ said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist of Care Ratings, a unit of Fitch. The Reserve Bank of India has reiterated that the impact of demonetisation was ‘transitory’ in a report in March.”

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“t was six months ago, on November 8, that India hit the headlines the world over, with its sudden demonetisation. It was announced in the evening that, at the stroke of the midnight hour, all bank notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 would cease to be legal tender,” Kaushik Basu reports for The Indian Express. “People would have the option, till December 30, to deposit these notes in the bank or change them for other notes, including newly-minted 500 and 2000 rupees.”

“The first reason given for this policy in the government’s press release on November 8 had to do with eliminating fake currency notes. India has long battled fake rupee notes injected into its economy. The best estimate is that one out of every 4,000 notes in India is fake,” Basu reports. “The second reason for demonetisation was to curb black money. The hope was that people who made money and did not pay taxes would be stranded by the suddenness of the announcement.”

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MacDailyNews Take: Again, India should allow Apple to sell Apple Certified Refurbished iPhones, iPads, and other Apple products:

The “Make in India” program is supposed to focus on creating skilled jobs and minimizing environmental impact. Blocking Apple from selling Apple Certified Refurbished iPhones and forcing the company to set up factories full of entry-level assembly jobs in order to open brand new retail stores accomplishes neither objective.

Indians can’t have nice, clean stores or real iPhones are great prices (Apple Certified Refurbished iPhones are better than new fragmandroid phones) because your government is “protecting” you against such things in favor of importing pollution and crap, menial, unskilled, low-paying jobs. So, don your face masks like the Chinese to ward off the smog (not that iPhone assembly is particularly polluting, but the requirement forcing 30% of manufacturing into the country will lead to pollution from other industries) and have fun with your insecure, never-to-be-updated fake iPhones!

Or, some portion of the 1.3 billion Indian citizens could demand that the handful of government dullards blocking Apple reconsider their trade ideas. — MacDailyNews, May 26, 2016

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India should approve Apple’s plan to sell Apple Certified refurbished iPhones in India. Not only would they be affordable to more consumers in India, Apple’s refurb’ed iPhones are easily better than competitors’ new phones! Why keep the Indian people shackled to inferior iPhone knockoffs when they could have the real thing? – MacDailyNews, May 25, 2016

SEE ALSO:
Indian Prime Minister Modi meets with Apple CEO Cook ahead of President Trump today – June 26, 2017
Apple broadens their iPhone attack in India, the world’s second biggest mobile market – June 22, 2017
Apple is making old iPhones new again to win India – June 12, 201
Apple again asks Indian government to allow sale of certified refurbished iPhones in India – February 6, 2017
Indian IT minister says Apple plans to make iPhones in Bengaluru – February 3, 2017
Apple nears deal to manufacture products in India – January 25, 2017
Apple is ready to make iPhones in India, for a price – January 20, 2017
India to consider Apple request for tax breaks and policy exemptions with ‘open mind’ – January 18, 2017
Apple is horse-trading mightily with India – January 4, 2017