Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu To Meet Apple Bigwigs In Davos To Discuss Manufacturing Units In India

Commerce and Industry Minister, Suresh Prabhu, on Friday announced that he will be meeting top Apple executives in Davos next month to take forward the talks about setting up the company’s manufacturing units in India, reports The Indian Express. Negotiations between the iPhone maker and the Indian government are already ongoing.

The company has requested some tax incentives and other concessions before it commits to investing in manufacturing facilities in India. Prabhu stated that those conditions can be negotiated and that it was a good time for Apple to come to India.

“We are still talking to Apple. Negotiations are ongoing. If they agree, we will like them to set up offices in India as well. I am meeting Apple’s top leadership in Davos in early January,” the minister said in a PTI interview.

Some of the concessions asked for by Apple include a 15-year duty exemption on capital equipment and manufacturing machinery, relaxation of the requirement of sourcing 30 per cent of the components locally and a decrease in customs duties for completely-knocked-down and semi-knocked-down devices that would be assembled in India.

The Cupertino-based tech giant largely doesn’t manufacture its products on its own, instead choosing to rely on contract manufacturers. In most countries, it sells its devices through company-owned stores but does not have the same setup in India, where it depends on distributors like Redington and Ingram Micro to make its sales.