Apple Reshuffling International Management To Focus More On India

Cupertino-based tech major Apple is undertaking a major reshuffle of its international management to focus more on India, one of its biggest markets outside the US.

Sources told Bloomberg that Apple is looking to establish India as a separate sales region as the demand in the country has surged over the past few quarters. This would allow India to gain much more importance within Apple.

The changes are taking place following the recent retirement of Hugues Asseman, the vice president in charge of India, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and Africa. 

Apple is looking to promote its India head, Ashish Chowdhary, who will now report to Michael Fenger, Apple’s head of product sales. Apple’s sales and international teams are divided between Fenger and another VP, Doug Beck.

During the company’s Q1 2023 earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that the iPhone maker posted an all-time high iPhone revenue in India, double-digit growth in the installed base of active iPhones and saw continued adoption of services for businesses like Apple Business Essentials, AppleCare, Tap to Pay and Apple Financial Services.

The tech giant is also planning to open its first retail outlets in India in partnership with Tata Sons.

India: Apple’s Factory

India has emerged as an important manufacturing hub for Apple amidst the supply chain disruption in China last year due to strict Covid-19 lockdowns and the rising diplomatic tensions between the US and China. 

The iPhone maker’s manufacturers such as Foxconn, Pegtron and Wistron, along with supply chain suppliers, have already generated over 1 Lakh jobs in India alone. Consequently, Apple became the largest provider of blue-collar jobs in the country’s electronics segment.

These companies are expected to add another few thousand jobs by the end of 2023, according to media reports. Apple supplier Salcomp recently announced that it would double its workforce to 25,000 in India by 2026.

iPhone maker Foxconn is also looking to set up manufacturing units in Karnataka and Telangana. 

Earlier this year, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said that Apple would take the share of production in India to 25% of the global production capacity in a bid to diversify manufacturing away from China.

The tech major’s shift in manufacturing towards India saw the company export iPhones worth $1 Bn in December 2022 alone, accounting for a lion’s share of smartphone exports from India in terms of value during the month.

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