Apple to begin making iPhones in India by April-End

New Delhi/ 4 January 2017. Apple Inc. will begin assembling iPhones in India by the end of April, according to a Karnataka minister.  The focus is to heighten on the world's fastest-growing major smartphone market as growth slows elsewhere.

The US company has tapped Taiwan's Wistron Corp. to put together its phones in the tech capital of Bengaluru, said Priyank Kharge, the state's information technology minister. Apple executives met with him in January and confirmed the timeline, he said in an interview.

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The start of iPhone assembly in India comes after months of speculation on Apple's plan for the market, which is led by rival Samsung Electronics Co. It signals a renewed focus on the country, where it just scrapes into the top 10, as growth begins to slow in China and other more mature markets. The Cupertino, California-based company is said to have put forward a long list of demands -- including a 15-year tax holiday to import components and equipment - in negotiations with the central government.

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"Apple's iPhones will be made in Bangalore and all devices will be targeted at the domestic market," said Kharge, IT minister for Karnataka, of which Bangalore is the capital. Kharge said the state will help Apple if it decides to turn to other contract manufacturers in the region.

The devices will be assembled through a plant on Bangalore's outskirts operated by Wistron, a Taiwanese contract manufacturer.

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