India's biggest conglomerate, Tata Group's subsidiary Tata Electronics has finalised a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) to obtain 100 per cent ownership of Wistron InfoComm Manufacturing (India) Private Limited (WMMI) to manufacture iPhone models in India, the media has reported. With this, Tata Group will become the first homegrown firm to join the supply chain to assemble iPhones.
The agreement would now need to obtain the required approvals. Wistron is said to issue necessary statements and submit filings in compliance with relevant regulations. This deal, inked with SMS InfoComm (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. and Wistron Hong Kong Limited, positions Indian conglomerate Tata Group as the first homegrown company to produce Apple iPhones, and join the likes of Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron and Luxshare.
The Wistron facility is situated close to the southern Indian state of Bengaluru.
A report by ET Telecom quoted Dr Randhir Thakur, CEO and Managing Director of Tata Electronics as saying in a statement: "Signing of the Share Purchase Agreement to acquire Wistron InfoComm Manufacturing (India) Private Limited is an important milestone for us. The EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) industry in India is poised for growth given the strong support from the Government, and we are happy to be participating in this growth story."
The agreement between Tata Group and Wistron was officially revealed late last month and Minister of State (MoS) IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar congratulated Tata Group for taking over the operations of Wistron's unit.
Taiwanese firm Wistron InfoComm Manufacturing (India) Pvt. Ltd, in a stock exchange filing, had confirmed its acquisition by Tata Group for around $125 million.
Notably, in a first, India-assembled vanilla iPhone 15 and 15 Plus models started retailing in the country on September 22, which was the day of launch. India-made devices have also been made available in other parts of the world, reports said. Apple has been assembling iPhone models in India along with its contract manufacturers Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron (which has been taken over by homegrown Tata Group). Apple is said to have shifted 7 per cent of search iPhone assembling in India.
The new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plusmodels are being manufactured by Apple's contract manufacturer Foxconn's production unit near southern Indian Chennai.