“Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said Friday he will be meeting top leadership of US-based iPhone maker Apple in Davos next month to discuss their plan about setting up manufacturing facilities in India,” Press Trust of India reports. “He said that talks are already on with the company, and the government can look at the demands of Apple Inc for setting up its manufacturing facility in the country.”
“‘We are still talking to Apple. Negotiations are ongoing. If they agree, we will like them to set up offices in India as well. I am meeting Apple’s top leadership in Davos in early January,’ the minister told PTI in an interview,” PTI reports. “‘When their offer came two-three years back and today, the situation has changed for them as well as for us. So, it is a good time to meet and discuss and finalise,’ he added. When asked about tax and other concessions being demanded by the company, the minister said: ‘We can look into that.'”
Apple has “sought duty exemption on manufacturing and repair units, components, capital equipment and consumables for smartphone manufacturing and service/repair for a period of 15 years,” PTI reports. “The company also wanted relaxation in the mandated 30 percent local sourcing of components, besides reduction in customs duties on completely-knocked-down and semi-knocked- down units of devices that are to be assembled in the country.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully a deal can be stuck as it will result in more affordable Apple products for consumers in India!
Yep. Better have a backup plan from China.
They should be making the SE2 .
Wow. Interesting take. Almost sounds like socialism.
I really do support this move but a little anecdote will give you an idea of what it’s like doing business in India. Back in the mid nineties I was a part owner of an Australian agribusiness and we decided to export superfine wool in a direct company to company venture, and it was an administrative nightmare.
The form filling was something that dreams weren’t made from. From memory there were close to 100 forms that had to be filled out and that was despite an undertaking that a unionised workforce would be used as well as a commitment not to use child labour. We even went over to the country to meet with out Indian manufacturing partners in their country and it was to no avail. The form filling got to the stage where we had to fill in forms so we could fill in further forms.
By way of example let’s say you filled out form 27 and that then qualified you to fill out form 36 and so on. It took us 18 months just to get the go ahead to export to the country. part of the problem was that there was so many forms that some of them got lost as they were transferred to other departments.
However, in the long run the exercise was worth it as it was a very lucrative business venture, but it sure was an eye opener. I wouldn’t necessarily call it socialism I’d just call it bureaucracy gone mad.