India To Power Apple’s Growth: Industry Analysts

MUMBAI, (IANS) – There has been a strong impetus for high-tech electronic manufacturing in India and the country will power tech giant Apple’s growth over the next decade, industry analysts said on February 23.

Apple’s revenue in India rose nearly 42 percent (on-year) last year to $8.7 billion, according to foreign brokerage Morgan Stanley.

The iPhone shipments grew about 39 percent to 9.2 million units last year.

Prabhu Ram, Head, of the Industry Intelligence Group at market intelligence firm CMR, told IANS that the country is adding more upstream capabilities to the electronics ecosystem.

“Apple has been a prime beneficiary of this conducive policy environment. At Cybermedia research, our market estimates point to Apple recording a significant 40 percent year-on-year growth in iPhone shipments in 2023,” he said.

Ram said that India will power Apple’s growth over the next decade, “just like China did in the last”.

Riding on the premiumization trend in India, iPhones grew 28 percent from the 4 percent market share in 2022 to more than 6 percent in 2023, according to latest industry data.

In the fourth quarter of 2023 alone, iPhone shipments saw seven percent growth in India, according to the latest CMR data.

As India doubles down on local manufacturing, Apple assembled iPhones worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore in India in 2023. Apple’s manufacturing in the country is part of the goals set under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.