Apple Chief Government Tim Cook will meet India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its deputy IT minister as a part of his go to to inaugurate the iPhone maker’s first retail retailer within the nation this week, individuals accustomed to the plans mentioned.
The go to by Cook to open the primary official company-owned shops in Mumbai and New Delhi this week underscores Apple’s rising ambitions for India, the place regardless of having only a 3% market share the corporate has been increasing iPhone meeting through contract producers, and likewise boosting its exports.
Cook will meet Modi on Wednesday in New Delhi, mentioned the 2 sources, who included an Indian authorities official.
One of many sources added the Apple chief would additionally meet India’s deputy IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Modi’s workplace declined to remark, whereas Apple and the IT ministry didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
The sources didn’t elaborate, however Cook’s conferences come amid Apple’s rising concentrate on India, the world’s second-largest smartphone market.
Round $9 billion value of smartphones have been exported from India between April 2022 and February this 12 months and iPhones accounted for greater than 50% of that, knowledge from the India Mobile and Electronics Affiliation exhibits.
On Monday, Apple opened its first retailer in Mumbai, however just for a non-public occasion the place bloggers and a few tech analysts reviewed the design and retailer format. It’s going to open to the general public from Tuesday, whereas a second retailer might be inaugurated inside a New Delhi mall on Thursday.
Thus far, Apple has bought its merchandise in India through resellers or e-commerce web sites comparable to Amazon.
The Mumbai retailer is within the premier Reliance Jio World Drive mall, house to luxurious clothes and jewelry manufacturers like Michael Kors, Kate Spade and Swarovski. It’s 20,800 sq. toes, far greater than the deliberate Delhi outlet, native registration paperwork present.
In India, iPhones are assembled by three of Apple’s contract producers – Foxconn, Wistron Corp and Pegatron Corp. Apple additionally plans to assemble iPads and AirPods in India. (Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil in New Delhi and M. Sriram in Mumbai Extra reporting by Sanjeev Miglani Modifying by Mark Potter)
