Apple's Manufacturing Ecosystem Gave Direct Employment To 50,000 In India: Report

Apple's manufacturing ecosystem has created close to 50,000 direct jobs in India since the smartphone production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme became effective.

Apple's manufacturing ecosystem has created close to 50,000 direct jobs in India since the smartphone production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme became effective in 2021, says a report by The Economic Times, citing government officials.

Apple's component suppliers and contract manufacturers like Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron have also collectively created 100,000 indirect jobs, apart from creating direct jobs in the country, the report added, citing data submitted by the companies. The iPhone maker's component suppliers in India include Sunwoda, Avary, Foxlink and Salcomp.

South Korean tech giant Samsung is also a beneficiary of the PLI scheme and the company employs more than 11,500 people at its Noida plant, the officials said, according to the report.

A recent report by news agency Reuters said Finland's Salcomp, which is also an Apple iPhone charger manufacturer, is looking to more than double its headcount in India to nearly 25,000 over the next 2-3 years. According to a company executive, the whole supply chain is looking for an alternative outside of China.

Salo, Finland-headquartered Salcomp, which currently employs about 12,000 people in Chennai with 85 per cent of them being women, had reached an agreement in 2019 to take over a facility, formerly owned by Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia, in the southern city of Chennai and started operations in 2020.

This development comes within a month of Jabil, an Apple manufacturer starting to locally manufacture components for AirPods in the country. Jabil is also shipping plastic bodies or enclosures for Apple AirPods to China and Vietnam, news agency Bloomberg reported last month. There have been rumours that Apple may be readying a budget AirPods TWS and a new AirPods Max for release in the second half (H2) of 2024. The new AirPods are likely to cost $99, which roughly translates into Rs 8,000 and will be around Rs 6,000 cheaper than the lowest-costing AirPods model in India that retails at Rs 14,900.

Meanwhile, Apple outpaced rival Samsung to become the first company to export smartphones worth $1 billion or Rs 8,100 crore in a month from India, an ET report said last month. December was also a record month for the smartphone industry with mobile phone exports of over Rs 10,000 crore, data showed, the report added.