Apple's Tim Cook meets PM Modi, affirms investment commitments for India

After meeting PM Modi, Cook said they share his vision of positive impact technology can make on India’s future, right from education and developers to manufacturing and the environment.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company is committed to "growing and investing" across the country after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 19.

While thanking the prime minister for the warm welcome, Cook said in a tweet that they share his vision of the positive impact technology can make on India’s future, right from education and developers to manufacturing and the environment.

Dubbing the meeting with the Apple CEO an "absolute delight", PM Modi tweeted: "An absolute delight to meet you, Tim Cook! Glad to exchange views on diverse topics and highlight the tech-powered transformations taking place in India."

An absolute delight to meet you, @tim_cook! Glad to exchange views on diverse topics and highlight the tech-powered transformations taking place in India. https://t.co/hetLIjEQEU

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 19, 2023

Sources said Cook acknowledged the policy stability that the government has provided and will likely help the country play a larger role in the global manufacturing sector. Apple plans to further expand its local manufacturing capabilities to make products beyond its flagship iPhone in the country, they added.

In terms of skills, the minister has asked Apple to define their requirements for them to make investments and set up infrastructure in the country, sources said.

Earlier this week, Apple announced that it now supports one million developer jobs in the country and the revenue payouts from its App Store payouts to Indian developers have “more than tripled since 2018”.

The company also has an iOS App Design and Development Accelerator in Bengaluru, wherein the company works closely with developers to help improve their apps. The accelerator has hosted sessions for more than 15,000 developers since 2017, it said.

Cook is visiting India after nearly seven years to inaugurate Apple's long-awaited stores in Mumbai and Delhi this week, apart from meetings with PM Modi, Vaishnaw, and junior IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

The Mumbai store, called Apple BKC, opened on April 18 at the Jio World Drive Mall in Mumbai, while the Delhi store, called Apple Saket, is set to open on April 20.

These developments 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, thanks in part to incentives provided by the government through its production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for smartphones.

The company currently manufactures iPhones in India, including the latest iPhone 14, through contract manufacturers such as Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron, with plans to manufacture other products such as its wireless headphones AirPods in the country.

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's work with Indian suppliers of all sizes supports hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country, the company stated on April 18.