The Centre has asked Apple to follow the official localisation roadmap, drawn by the Ministry of Electronics and IT in consultation with the industry, which will eliminate the need for additional concessions to the U.S.-based technology giant for making its phones in India.
“Apple has indicated that they have a roadmap for indigenisation… We, in turn, have told them that we ourselves have drawn a roadmap for indigenisation because we want to drive up value-addition,” IT Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said.
She added that the roadmap has been shared with Apple, and “we have told them if they can align their roadmap, in which case we don’t need to give them any separate concessions.”
Duty free imports
Apple had requested that it be allowed duty free imports of certain components for a 15-year period.
Ms. Sundararajan said the indigenisation roadmap was prepared over the past two years in consultation with the industry. “Some of their components will start being manufactured out of India over a period of time. They have shared a specific roadmap with us,” she added. Apple has already started making iPhone SE model locally.
Earlier in the day, Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that Apple intends to expand manufacturing in the country. “They want to bring their ecosystem of products here and make all products here,” he had said.
Ms. Sundararajan added that right now what they have started is very small. “They're talking of a much larger plan where they want to bring in the whole ecosystem. They have big plans for India. They definitely intend to make all their products (here), is what they’ve told us in the next phase, for which they are evaluating various options.”
Asked about if Apple will also manufacture its tablets (iPads) and notebooks (MacBooks) range in the country, the Secretary said, “We have not gone into the specifics, but they said they would look at all their product range.”
