18th April 2023, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai. The famed CEO of Apple Tim Cook greeted the people of Mumbai with phenomenal zest, their very first Apple store ever.
People flocked in heaps; the ambiance mirrored the first day opening of an A-class Bollywood movie.
Here it was, people, the businesses, the entire economy, and Tim Cook- all eager to light up this new journey. A journey of Apple and its ever-increasing investment in the Indian market.
Apple’s interest and skyrocketing investment chart in India displays the company’s nature- that is currently hellbent in its efforts of seeking an alternative location of manufacturing as it gradually moves away from China.
Apple’s revenue from India, which currently stands at an estimate $6 billion is a staggering figure that has doubled from the past year.
Executives from the investment firm Westbush Securities predicts Apple’s revenue from theIndian consumer market to go up to $20 billion in 2025.
But why India?
Some of the answers would be quite simple. India has a fast-growing consumer base. With a population of 1.4 billion and with more than 65% population being of age between 20 to 35, India is becoming a coveted market for global brands.
Furthermore, government’s initiatives of fostering a healthy business environment, its alliance and relationship with the West, and its growing influence makes India a fertile place of seeding global business.
The Mumbai’s flagship store isn’t the only investment Apple has poured in. A store of similar ritzy features and architecture has been inaugurated on 20th April. Additionally, some acres of land in the Indian tech city of Bangalore have also been leased.
An additional investment of $500 million for the establishment of a plant in the state of Telangana. The move has been made by one of Apple’s prime supplier Foxconn.
The decision of the tech giants comes with their renewed urge to diversify its basket of investment. Apple in the recent years, has been eyeing on South-East and South Asian countries for shifting its manufacturing and assembly from China.
The reason behind relates to the contentious growing geopolitical weather between the US and the Asian giant.
Both of these military and economic behemoths have been engaging in a number of growing conflicts ranging from banning tech exports to their stance on Taiwan, a tiny island nation that China claims authority over and a major exporter of semiconductor of the world.
The scenario has coerced Tim Cook to look for safer and suitable grounds to move a portion, if not all of Apple’s plant.
Apart from India, Thailand and Vietnam are also in the list of being the home to Apple’s Ipad segment manufacturing facility.
Despite this diversification strategy, prominent economists fail to see any other market mirroring the same benefits as that of China.
However, before the official Indian advent of Apple, Tim Cook visited Beijing to celebrate and solidify the relation Apple has maintained in China, a consumer market currently giving Apple around $40 billion in revenue.
Apple has been principle in playing its role in Chinese government by working as a watchdog for the Communist party and assisting them in their media related vision.
Moreover, this figure is expected to only increase along with the revenue figure of the Indian market. This makes Tim Cook play decisively and carefully about the business.
As the person carrying role of growing one of the world’s most valuable companies, he just can’t afford to abandon the Chinese market.
Besides, the market, the benefits Apple get as a manufacture in China is too favorable when comparing it to India. But the market shifts and the changing dynamics might change this in the future.
World geopolitics have taken a number of dramatic shifts, prompting businesses to opt to make decisions that weren’t in their cards. Only time will tell where this disruption leads to.
