iPhone makers including Foxconn are rumored to be part of India’s $6.6 billion manufacturing plan

Apple’s main iPhone OEM is expected to gain approval to take part in a $6.6 billion investment incentive program launched by the Indian government to boost Indian manufacturing, according to people familiar with the matter.

At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the Indian government is expected to approve a plan to achieve $150 billion in mobile phone production over the next five years, the sources said. Among the more than a dozen phone makers approved by the Indian government for the incentive are major Apple suppliers Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron Corp. Among them, Foxconn and Pegatron have submitted two applications. The iPhones produced by Apple’s three contract manufacturers are sold almost worldwide, and these iPhones are currently produced by these three contract manufacturers mainly in factories in China.

According to the Production-Based Incentive Scheme (PLI) introduced by India, the manufacturing incentives have been increased year by year to attract the world’s largest smartphone brands to produce products in India and export to the world. In addition to Apple’s foundry, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. is one of the foreign companies that have received approval from the Indian government to enjoy this investment incentive. However, what attracted the attention of the outside world is that China’s Huawei, OPPO, and vivo brand mobile phone parent company BBK Group, are absent from this plan.

“This is a deliberate move to entice Apple to bring significant iPhone manufacturing to India, and when iPhone makers move, the entire ecosystem follows,” said director of Lava International, India’s largest homegrown handset maker CEO and founder Hari Om Rai said, “In the next five years, there will be major changes in mobile phone manufacturing in India.”