India plans to boost the financial incentives for manufacturers like Apple to make the market-dominating iPad in the country and wooing other companies such as Dell to make laptops in India as part of its bid to challenge China as a production base.
Sankalp Phartiyal for Bloomberg News:
The federal technology ministry has floated the revamped program to electronics industry executives for consultation, including payments that could exceed a half a billion dollars per company, people familiar with the matter said. India wants to boost production of tablets and laptops to cut imports and make the country an export hub in the longer term.
In particular, the country wants to persuade Apple, which already assembles iPhones in India via its Taiwanese suppliers, to make iPads locally.
The plan offers as much as 45 billion rupees ($549 million) per manufacturer, according to a government document seen by Bloomberg News. To qualify, foreign companies would need to invest 7 billion rupees in India over five years on top of outlays they’ve made through March 2021.
The Narendra Modi administration has been ramping up efforts to attract global electronics names through policy initiatives, as China’s allure wanes because of geopolitical tensions and its disruptive Covid Zero policy. There are signs of momentum: Apple began making its new iPhone 14 in India sooner than anticipated… Apple has yet to expand iPad production to India though.
MacDailyNews Take: iPad assembly would be the big get for India. Hopefully, Apple will continue to diversify product assembly away from China.
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Apple doesn’t really care about $500M but getting away from China is a good thing.
Trust me, Einstein, Apple cares about $550 million.