Reuters-Smartphone component
maker Wistron Corp, which counts Apple Inc among its customers, has applied for
permission to expand its plant in the Indian city of
Bengaluru, a high-ranking
regional government official said on Monday.
The Taiwanese
contract manufacturer has also requested that its application be fast-tracked,
the official at the state government of Karnataka in southern India told
Reuters.
The move comes less
than two weeks after the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was in talks
with India's federal government about the possibility of assembling products in
one of the world's biggest smartphone markets, where the U.S. tech firm
controls less than 2 percent.
Apple setting up
production in India would be a significant win for the government which has
embarked on a major campaign to attract global manufacturers under the slogan
"Make in India".
"Wistron has
approached us to expedite certain clearances with regards to the augmentation
and expansion of its existing unit," said the official, who was not
authorized to speak publicly on the matter and so declined to be identified.
Whether Apple will
begin manufacturing in India is unknown, but Wistron's desire to expand
"pretty quickly" could represent "several steps in that
direction," the official said.
Apple did not
immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Wistron could not be reached
for comment.
Analysts have said
local manufacturing could come as part of a wider strategy for Apple to expand
in India and even lower prices after Chief Executive Tim Cook visited the
country in May and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Certainly that
(local manufacturing) will help in some level of cost optimization," said
Gartner research director Anshul Gupta. "Because looking at the current
tax structure, local facilities do provide some kind of cost advantage."
Another of Apple's
Taiwanese suppliers, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd - commonly known as
Foxconn - also has a manufacturing facility in southern India.
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