The iPhone maker Apple has teamed up with a group of American businesses to express concern about India’s sudden introduction of tech import restrictions last month, claiming the move will damage India’s goal of becoming a global manufacturing hub and negatively impact consumers, Bloomberg reported.
According to the report, at least eight American trade groups, including Apple, have written a letter to U.S. officials, requesting them to encourage India to rethink a new policy. This policy, set to begin on November 1, will require a license for importing technology products like laptops, tablets, servers, and data center components.
India hasn’t explained the reason for this change, but it’s believed to be part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign to promote local manufacturing in the tech sector, called “Made in India.” The policy was originally meant to go into immediate effect earlier this month until authorities granted affected companies a three-month reprieve for them to obtain the required licensing.
Meanwhile, Apple has also started the manufacturing of the next-generation iPhone 15 in India. According to Bloomberg sources, Apple supplier Foxconn Technology Group plant in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur is gearing up to deliver only weeks after they start shipping from factories in China, as the company seeks to swiftly increase the volume of new iPhones coming from India.
The company is working on a multiyear project to reduce its manufacturing dependency on China. This aims to make its product supply chain less vulnerable due to uncertainties in trade relations between US and China. India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has sought to build closer ties to the US and make itself a manufacturing hub, the report said.
As per Bloomberg, before iPhone 14, the Cupertino-based tech giant made only a small portion of iPhones in India, which was much slower than China. But last year, this delay improved a lot, and by the end of March, Apple manufactured 7 per cent of iPhones in India.
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