Apple reassures India on investment plans despite Trump’s remarks
India would be a major manufacturing base, Apple said after Trump asked the company to not shift manufacturing bases to India;
A file image of US president Donald J. Trump. (Photo: @realDonaldTrump/X)
New Delhi, May 16: iPhone maker Apple’s investment plans for India are intact and the company proposes to have a major manufacturing base for its products in the country, government sources said.
Shortly after US President Donald Trump’s statement asking Apple CEO Tim Cook to avoid shifting manufacturing bases to India, Indian officials spoke to the California-based firm.
The Apple executives assured the Indian government officials that the company’s investment plans are intact and the country would be a major manufacturing base of Apple.
“Apple has said that its investment plans in India are intact and it proposes to continue to have India as a major manufacturing base for its products,” the source said.
E-mail query sent to Apple in this regard, however, elicited no immediate response.
Earlier in the day, Trump said he spoke to Cook and told him that he doesn’t want Apple to make its products in India and instead increase production in the US.
Cook has announced that Apple will source the majority of iPhones sold in the US from India in the June quarter while China will produce the vast majority of the devices for other markets amid uncertainty over tax tariffs.
India has rapidly become a major hub for Apple’s manufacturing, with the tech giant producing smartphones worth $22 billion in the past year alone marking a 60% year-on-year increase. According to government sources, 15 per cent of iPhone’s global output comes from India. iPhones are assembled in India at facilities operated by Foxconn and the Tata Group.
Notably, Foxconn has also started manufacturing Apple Airpods in Telangana for exports.
Despite this, Trump stated his preference for Apple to focus on domestic production, hinting at plans to scale up iPhone output in the U.S.
According to an analysis by S&P Global, iPhone sales in the US were 75.9 million units in 2024, with exports in March from India at 3.1 million units, suggesting a need to double shipments either through new capacity or redirecting shipments bound for the domestic market.
– With inputs from news agencies