The Tatas have had preliminary talks with Taipei-headquartered Wistron to establish a joint venture to manufacture iPhones in India. The conglomerate could possibly acquire a stake in the Indian unit of the Taiwanese OEM.
Wistron already has an India plant and contracts manufactures iPhones for Apple Inc. It has also tied up in a strategic alliance last year with Delhi-based Optiemus (which is eligible for PLI scheme for mobile devices, IT products and telecom products) to manufacture mobile devices for non-Apple customers, contract manufacture IT hardware and telecom products.
The government is expecting the PLI-eligible companies to hit a value addition of 35 percent by the end of the fifth year of the scheme. Once the experiment is successful, Tatas could become a part of the large global supply chain of Apple.
With a manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd has been working with Apple to design and manufacture mechanical parts for iPhone for nearly two years. The Tatas could extend this relationship and be a key player in Apple’s global supply chain.
The work in progress is significant and experts say that manufacturing of mechanical parts in the country could help Apple increase the value addition of the iPhone by around 5 to 6 percent. Currently, the value addition with respect to the iPhone is 18 to 20 percent.
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