Apple's Tim Cook meets Mukesh Ambani, N Chandrasekaran on his first day in India

Apple CEO Tim Cook

Apple chief executive officer (CEO) Tim Cook met India's top business stalwarts, including Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran in Mumbai on his first day of India visit, people familiar with the matter told Moneycontrol on April 17.

Cook met with billionaire businessman Ambani at his residence, Antilla, on the afternoon of April 17. Also present at the meeting were Akash Ambani, chairman of Reliance Jio, and Isha Ambani, Executive Director, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, according to sources.

It's also worth noting that Apple has strategic partnerships with Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail to sell its products in India. Meanwhile, Tata Group-owned Infiniti Retail, which operates Croma, is an important Apple franchisee partner, and the salt-to-software conglomerate is also eyeing manufacturing iPhones in India.

Cook is returning to India after nearly seven years to inaugurate Apple's long-awaited stores in Mumbai and Delhi this week. The Mumbai store, called Apple BKC, will open on April 18 at the Jio World Drive Mall in Mumbai, while the Delhi store, called Apple Saket, will open on April 20.

During his visit, Cook is also expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

These meetings come at a time when Apple is betting on India to become a key manufacturing hub in order to diversify its manufacturing capabilities beyond China. The company currently manufactures iPhones in India through contract manufacturers such as Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron, with plans to manufacture other products such as its wireless headphones AirPods in the country.

Earlier today, Cook had said that the company is excited to build on its over 25-year history in the country with the opening of its first Apple Store locations in the country. "India has such a beautiful culture and an incredible energy," he said.

Apple clocked iPhone exports of about $5 billion-$5.5 billion from India in FY23, accounting for nearly half of the country's mobile phone exports, according to estimates from industry sources.

The Cupertino tech giant captured 25 percent of 'Made in India' smartphone shipments in terms of value in 2022, as compared to 12 percent in 2021, as per Counterpoint Research. The company's ‘Made in India’ shipments grew by 65 percent year-on-year (YoY) by volume and 162 percent YoY by value in 2022, it said.

Apple’s partners Foxconn and Wistron were the fastest growing manufacturers among the top 10 in Q4 2022, fuelled by increasing exports from Apple, the report added.

Apple is also currently the leader in India's premium smartphone market (above Rs 30,000) and the country's smartphone market in terms of shipment value in Q4 2022, Counterpoint Research mentioned in a separate report. It clocked record shipments of over 6.5 million in 2022, registering a 16% growth YoY, the firm noted. The company's overall market share in India's smartphone market is however still around 5 percent.

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