At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the Indian government is
expected to approve a plan aimed at bringing $150 billion in mobile-phone
production over the next five years.
Apple Inc.’s major
iPhone
assemblers are among the companies expected to win approval to participate in a
$6.6 billion stimulus program to bring manufacturing to India, according to
people familiar with the matter, a potentially seismic shift as the world’s
most valuable company diversifies beyond China.
At a cabinet
meeting on Wednesday, the Indian government is expected to approve a plan aimed
at bringing $150 billion in mobile-phone production over the next five years,
said the people, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.
Among the dozen phonemakers already cleared by a high-powered government
committee are Apple’s primary supplier Foxconn Technology Group, which had
submitted two applications, and peers Wistron Corp. and Pegatron Corp., the
people said. The three companies make virtually every iPhone sold globally in
sprawling factories currently located mainly in China.
Under the
Production Linked Incentive program, or PLI as it’s called, manufacturing
incentives will rise each year in an ongoing effort to entice the world’s
biggest smartphone brands to make their products in India and export to the
world. Besides the Apple
contractors, Samsung Electronics Co. is the only other applicant for the five
slots allotted to foreign companies. China’s largest phonemakers Huawei
Technologies Co. and BBK Group, which manufactures brands like Oppo and Vivo,
are conspicuous by their absence.
Amid rising trade
and political tensions between the U.S. and China, India is betting that many
global brands will be keen to reduce their dependence on China. If successful,
the program could set in motion a shift in electronics manufacturing in the
next five years.
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