Apple created more than 20,000 jobs in India as part of its supply chain, according to DigiTimes Asisa. It also adds that the number could have been even higher if not for covid-19. While Apple has been able to increase the local supply chain in India, the lockdowns due to the pandemic did affect the operations.
The manufacturing companies such as Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron were able to set up their plants in India with the help of the government in the form of subsidies. The Indian government has been pushing for increased manufacturing in the country with its Production Linked Incentive (PLI).
The report by DigiTimes Asia also suggests that Foxconn and Wistron could hire an additional 23,000 people as part of their workforce by March 2022. The two manufacturing firms have pledged to hire many more people in their PLI. The Taiwanese manufacturer Pegatron plans to add 10,000 people to its workforce by the end March of 2022.
“The headcounts at Wistron’s operation in India had been already approaching 10,000 when a riot by workers took place at its plant in December 2020, forcing the company to halt and restructure its systems and operations,” the report claimed.“Pegatron India has not started operations yet as it only decided the location of its production site in India earlier this year”.
At the moment, Apple manufactures the iPhone 11, the iPhone XR, and the iPhone SE in India. It has also been reported that the company plans to locally produce the current flagship iPhone 12 in the country soon. It is unclear as to when the ‘Made in India’ iPhone 12 will start shipping to Indian customers.
In the past, Apple has always reduced the price of its iPhones when the specific models begin to be locally produced. It is likely that the price of the iPhone 12 will also be reduced in the near future.
