Apple Poised to Shift 18% of iPhone Production to India by 2025, Leveraging Government Incentives

A research report has been published by the Bank of America that says Apple, driven by the production-linked incentive scheme by the government of India, may soon shift at least 18% of its digital iPhone production to India by FY2025. This Cupertino-based company can expand even further if the larger scale incentivizes its vendors to also expand in the country, the report mentioned.

The government of India’s PIL scheme aims to give companies incentives for incremental sales from products manufactured in domestic units. The report added that the PLI scheme can help India to achieve India’s target to triple its domestic production to $126 billion and achieve five times growth in export to $55 billion, by FY2026.

As per the report, the production of the mobile phone has significantly risen from 6 crore in 2014-15 to around 31 crore in 2021-22. “We believe India could be a credible global supply chain alternative for mobile phones/electronics. Success in other sectors is also likely. We believe India’s efforts to cut imports/step-up exports, could improve its macro-outlook,” said Amish Shah, managing director and head of India research at Bank of America.

Among all mentioned reasons that incentivize Apple and benefit it, one that needs to be mentioned is the instability of China as a manufacturing hub. The protest at Foxconn in China and the Chinese government’s harsh rules caused Apple to think over the idea of shifting production. India being the land of skilled people can be the best place with the government’s incentives to increase production in India.