Wistron, the Contract Manufacturer for Apple in India received the approval from Govt. of India for the manufacturing ofiPhone X and the upcoming devices in the pipeline.
Most high-end Apple devices as of now used to be imported from manufacturing facilities in other countries to India. Wistron, the contract manufacturer of Apple products in India had limited scope to utilise its manufacturing capacity to the fullest. As per the latest news coming from the Government of India this contract manufacturing company now is given full approval for producing all high-end Apple devices including the latest iPhone X and the upcoming devices in the pipeline. The announcement seems to be a big push for the Make in India initiative of the Indian government.
Wistron is a Taiwanese manufacturing company operating from India which has been producing several less expensive Apple products in its Indian facility for some time. The iPhone SE is produced by the company in the Bengaluru unit now. The approval will help the company expanding its facility and scaling up production at several levels for the more expensive and latest Apple devices as well.
What the government has to say?
The government actually gave the first nod to the company and the proposal is awaiting final approval from the cabinet. IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad expressed satisfaction in coming with the announcement especially because of the approval for Rs 5,091 crore application from Wistron will help the company manufacture the latest iPhone devices in India.
If this is not enough, there are more surprises in the pipeline. According to the minister, another 2500 Crore project from a separate contract manufacturer of Apple called Foxconn is waiting for approval. The minister when asked about the competitive position of India when compared to the incentives offered by the Chinese government, was confident about the range of advantages for these manufacturers in operating from India.
The key strengths of India as a manufacturing hub
Talking to the media Mr Prasad said that India is an impeccable choice as the hub of world’s electronic manufacturing because of three crucial factors, respectively as a bullish workforce, plentitude of skilled professionals and fluency in English as the second language. In addition to this, India being the fastest growing smartphone market in the world makes it a natural choice for leading companies like Apple to consider expanding manufacturing facilities here.
The plan ahead
Apart from this announcement, the government also expressed wishes to lend its total support to other software development companies and to provide consistent support to protect intellectual property rights. According to Minister Prasad, this policy will help India creating future Google and Facebook from India.
When talking to the media on a range of issues concerning new projects and plans Minister Prasad also revealed that Indian government with a view to supporting software development in India has already set up a fund worth Rs 5,000 crore. According to him, local manufacturing of high-end software products and homegrown technological innovations will continue to take the front seat in the list of priorities for government and the present approval is a significant step towards this.
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