Apple Makes India Its Own Region

Posted on March 10, 2023

Apple had grouped India along with the Middle East, Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and Africa. Apple Inc is only now recognising India’s potential and hence making India its own region. Apple wants to focus on the Indian market and is doing this by restructuring the management of its international business.

Apple is promoting its head of India Ashish Chowdhary to take the place of the recently retired Hugues Asseman, who was in charge of India, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and Africa. Chowdhary will now report directly to Michael Fenger, Apple’s head of product sales. Apple’s sales and international teams are split between Fenger and Doug Beck, with both executives reporting to CEO Tim Cook. This step will result in India becoming its own sales region at Apple as per a Bloomberg report. Although the management structure will change the sales reports and how financial results are declared will not change. For this purpose India will still be considered in the same category as Europe, Middle East and Africa.

India had a record quarterly revenue and strong double-digit growth year-over-year as per the iPhone manufacturer. Other than being a high sales market, India is emerging as an important location for Apple’s product development. Apple is collaborating with manufacturing partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. to set up new iPhone production facilities in the country. Vital vendors are establishing themselves in India to ensure uninterrupted supply of components.

Apple has become one of the top job creators in the electronics sector by generating over 100,000 direct employment opportunities in the last 19 months, as reported by Business Standard. The report also noted that Apple’s vendors and component suppliers in India have contributed to the creation of these jobs by supporting the production of iPhones through the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. The three key vendors assembling iPhones – Foxconn Hon Hai, Pegatron, and Wistron – have collectively produced 60 percent of the newly created jobs.The remaining 40 percent jobs have been created by companies like Tata Electronics, Salcomp, Avary, Foxlink, Sunwoda, and Jabil dealing in accessories like chargers etc.

Apple reported 5% decrease in total sales, however it reported a record revenue in India in the last quarter. In order to better serve this growing region, the tech giant has established an online store and plans to open its first retail outlets in the country in the second half 2023.

Apple’s Sales Breakup In Billions

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook highlighted the importance of the growing Indian market, drawing comparisons to the company’s early years in China. “We are, in essence, taking what we learned in China years ago and how we scale to China and bringing that to bear,” he said.

Apple Makes India Its Own Region