Indian conglomerate Tata Group is set to start manufacturing iPhones in the country for local and global markets.
The announcement by Indian Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar comes after Wistron, a contract manufacturer of Apple products, agreed to sell its facility in Karnataka to Tata Electronics.
As per the statement shared by the minister, last week, Wistron board met last week and granted approval to its subsidiaries SMS InfoComm (Singapore) and Wistron Hong Kong, to sign a deal with Tata Electronics for the divesture of its 100% stake in Wistron InfoComm Manufacturing (India).
Tentatively, the transaction is priced at $125m (Rs10.4bn), the Taiwan-based company said, adding that the deal will be subject to regulatory approval.
For over a year, Tata Group had been in discussions to acquire the factory to strengthen its relationship with Apple, reported Bloomberg.
The agreement also strengthens India’s attempts to develop domestic competitors to China’s hegemony in the electronics industry, which has been threatened by strained relations with the US.
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By GlobalDataChandrasekhar said: “[India’s Ministry of Electronics & IT] stands fully in support in the growth of Global Indian Electronics companies that will in turn support global Electronic brands that want to make India their trusted manufacturing and talent partner and to realize PMs goal of making India a global electronics power.”
Taiwanese manufacturing majors such as Pegatron Corporation and Foxconn Technology Group assemble majority of Apple’s iPhones.
Along with Foxconn and Pegatron, Wistron is one of the three Taiwanese iPhone makers in India.
In 2020, Wistron agreed to sell its iPhone production business in China to a competitor as part of its efforts to diversify its business from thin-margin iPhone manufacturing into areas such as servers.