MODEL CODE OF CONSTRUCT

Apple is replicating its China model of manufacturing in India, with tweaks. How is it working out?

- SURAJEET DAS GUPTA

This year Apple Inc vendors in India are assembling the latest iPhone 16 simultaneously with China factories - a feat the Indian assemblers achieved in only six years since Apple first started to make in India. In a few weeks, Indian factories will also roll out the more sophisticated iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, models that have so far been imported from China.

You could call it the maturing of Indian manufacturing. But, for the Cupertino-headquartered tech giant, it is a replication of its time-tested strategy in China, with tweaks, and ensuring India is firmly entrenched as the second biggest export hub for iPhones after China.

Replicating China means scale: Large factories, the kind of which have not been seen in India, supported by a large blue-collar workforce and flexible labour laws that have raised the maximum hours of work, especially during peak demand. It also entails bringing to India anchor vendors, such as Foxconn, which have worked closely with Apple in China. It means nurturing in India, as in China, a local supply system that can be a part of the global value chain, with support from Apple. It also means continuous engagement with the government for concessions, financial incentives, tax benefits, and policy tweaks.

For instance, in August the Tamil Nadu government inaugurated a China-like hostel facility for housing 18,729 women employees working in Foxconn's plant, where 75 per cent of the 45,000 workers are women. The facility, in which the state government has invested ₹700 crore, will be given on lease to the Taiwanese company which will run it. The plan is to double the hostel capacity in the second phase.

Sources say the Tata Electronics plant in Hosur may have a similar hostel. The plant has 20,000 employees and is likely to have 50,000 once the fourth iPhone assembly unit comes up.

Not as big as China