Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group chairman Terry Gou said on Monday (15 April) that the company will begin the mass production of iPhone in India this year, reports Times of India. Foxconn is the largest assembler of the United States-based smartphone giant Apple’s handsets and has for long concentrated iPhone production to China.

According to the report, Apple has had older phones produced at a plant in Bengaluru for several years, but now will expand manufacturing to more recent models.

Earlier this month, Bloombeg News has reported that Foxconn is ready to start trial production of the latest iPhones in India before the company starts full-scale assembly at its factory outside Chennai.

TGou said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited him to India as his Taiwanese company plans its expansion in the country.

Apple has been a minor player in India, which reportedly has become the fastest growing smartphone market in the world. One of the reason behind Apple lagging other smartphone manufacturers is the high prices of company’s smartphones. However, local manufacturing could help the Apple as it can then avoid 20 per cent import duties levied on its smartphones.

“In the future we will play a very important role in India’s smartphone industry,” Gou said at an event in Taiwan. “We have moved our production lines there.”