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Apple's push into India has rapidly expanded its iPhone supply chain, creating roughly 350,000 jobs in just five years and reshaping the country's role in global smartphone manufacturing.
Rapid growth and the employment picture
According to government sources cited by Economic Times, Apple's local supplier network in India now connects with nearly 45 domestically based companies. That expansion has driven significant job creation: about 350,000 positions linked to iPhone component manufacturing, with roughly 120,000 of those counted as direct roles at supplier firms. These figures do not include the thousands employed at the five active iPhone assembly plants operating in the country.
The scale of this growth is notable because India built a sizable iPhone supply chain in a fraction of the time it took China. While China developed its massive manufacturing ecosystem over decades, Apple’s India footprint grew quickly thanks to incentives and targeted investments.
A diverse supplier network taking shape
The supplier list blends large, established corporations with small and medium enterprises. Major names such as Tata Electronics, Avary, and Titan Engineering & Automation sit alongside about 20 Indian MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises). Several suppliers are expected to apply for a revised Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme that expands support to component manufacturers, strengthening local sourcing and production capacity.
The original PLI program introduced in 2020 played a key role in Apple’s India strategy by offering financial incentives to scale manufacturing locally. With those measures in place, officials now estimate that roughly one in five iPhones produced globally is manufactured in India.
Why Apple diversified beyond China
Apple’s move into India was partly strategic insurance. The COVID-19 disruptions to Chinese factories in 2020 exposed production risks tied to a single region. Geopolitical tensions — including trade friction between the U.S. and China, border incidents, and shifting tariff policies — added further uncertainty. Establishing a stronger manufacturing base in India helps Apple hedge against supply interruptions and shipping constraints.
The company initially worked with some Chinese partners to stand up operations in India but adjusted the mix after regional tensions in 2020 encouraged greater use of non-Chinese suppliers.
Conclusion
Apple’s rapid build-out in India highlights how policy incentives and strategic diversification can accelerate industrial ecosystems. For India, the result is a fast-growing manufacturing cluster, thousands of new jobs, and a stronger role in the global iPhone supply chain — a trend likely to continue as the PLI scheme and local investment evolve.
Source: appleinsider
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