In a boldest and ambitious manufacturing move in India, the Tata Group has started making the Apple iPhone within the country as it seeks to acquire the Narasapura factory, outside Bengaluru of Taiwanese giant Wistron, sources said. The move comes within weeks of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s detailed meeting with Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran in Mumbai during his India visit in April. It is understood that the two executives discussed the mega electronics manufacturing plans of the Tata group, and also what Apple expects to come out of the partnership in the short as well as the long-term.
While there is still some uncertainty over whether Wistron will make a complete exit from the Bengaluru operations, top sources have emphasized that the Taiwanese contract manufacturing giant has “firmly decided to fully exit the Apple operations to focus on other businesses.” They added that Wistron will continue to look at “other opportunities in India for non-Apple products”.
On the entry of the Tata group, a top source said, “Select officials of the Tata Group are already operating out of the Wistron factory in Bangalore, and the ambitious project is being carefully run under the watchful eyes of group chairman Chandrasekaran and top Wistron and Apple executives in-charge of manufacturing.”
Sources said that “the Tatas are already manufacturing the iPhone at Wistron facility. Their representatives and officials have started getting involved in the operations, HR, and administration. They are getting trained on the operations and processes.” It is learnt that the Centre played a key role in “encouraging and pushing” Apple to not only grow its manufacturing eco-system in India – as it looks to develop a large production hub outside China -but also involve “credible Indian corporates” into the key functions such as manufacturing. “The government feels that involvement of Indian companies in the critical manufacturing operations will result in getting a lot of ancillaries and other suppliers also mushrooming from within the country,” said a source.