Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme has started giving sweet returns as tech behemoth Apple is set to shift its iPad manufacturing from loss making destination of China to India. According to media reports, Apple, which has steadily raised production of iPhones in India to lessen its dependence on Chinese manufacturing, took part in PLI scheme via its contract manufacturers and is keen to set its base in the country.
According to a Reuter’s report, Apple will likely have the iPads assembled by one of its existing suppliers in the country as early as this year. It is imperative to note that the new PLI scheme, which offers cash-back to manufacturers for exports, will have a budget of up to 70 billion rupees ($964.5 million) over five years and it is expected to be launched by the end of February.
However, Apple being Apple is still lobbying for the budget to be increased. It is being reported that Apple is eyeing a bigger budgetary outlay of 200 billion rupees before the plan is finalized. However, the government seems content on the budget it has approved for the first few phases of the scheme.
Since the former US President Donald Trump started the Trade Wars with China to show the autocratic country its place, it is companies like Apple who have borne the major brunt of the issue. With Joe Biden in the White House now, the chances of another bout of ‘Trade Wars’ appear slim but Apple has made up its mind to pack its bags and look for newer pastures. India and Vietnam have been the two options. But with PM Modi bringing the revolutionary PLI scheme, New Delhi seems to have pipped Hanoi in the race.
The move will help create thousands of jobs and simultaneously give boost to the ‘Make in India’ campaign as well. Apple already assembles its iPhones in Karnataka at the Wistron plant where some miscreants/CCP stooges had tried to create ruckus, late last year. Reports had suggested Apple will drop its shutters but the government intervened and brought the situation under control.
Reported by TFI recently, the Modi administration is on a roll with its PLI scheme as one sector after another is being revolutionized by the pathbreaking idea and its even better implementation.
After the huge success of the PLI scheme in various sectors like – pharmaceuticals, automobiles and auto components, telecom and networking products, advanced chemistry cell batteries, textile, food products, solar modules, white goods, and speciality steel, Modi government is all set to incentivize telecommunication equipment manufacturers with the same.
Getting Apple — the big fish, to come and set up its camp in India will be one of the major achievements of the entire scheme and if the current situation is any indication, it looks an almost certainty that the deal will go through. And it could be another feather in the cap moment for the Modi administration which is staging a remarkable and spirited economic recovery roadmap in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.