The Tata Group has secured a landmark deal to produce iPhones in India for both local and global markets.
The Taiwanese company Wistron Corp has approved the sale of its manufacturing plant, Wistron Infocom Manufacturing (India) Pvt Ltd, to Tata Electronics Private Limited (TEPL) for $125 million.
India’s Electronics and Technology Minister, Rajiv Chandrashekhar, announced that iPhone manufacturing is set to commence within the next two and a half years.
Tata Group had been in negotiations with Taiwan’s Wistron Corp for over a year.
Chandrashekhar extended congratulations to the Tata team for this acquisition and emphasized that iPhones would soon be manufactured in India for both domestic and international consumers.
Wistron Corporation, an iPhone assembly partner, confirmed that its subsidiaries, SMS Infocom (Singapore) Pte Ltd and Wistron Hong Kong Ltd, will engage in a share purchase agreement with Tata Electronics.
This agreement will enable the acquisition of a 100% indirect stake in Wistron Infocom Manufacturing (India) Private Limited.
Once the deal is finalized and regulatory approvals are secured, Tata Electronics will commence iPhone production at Wistron’s plant in Karnataka.
According to reports by Hindu BusinessLine, Wistron Corporation is expected to exit India upon finalizing the deal with Tata Electronics.
The Tata Group is actively expanding its workforce at the Hosur factory near Bengaluru, where iPhone production will now be based.
This move will provide employment for 12,000 individuals, and the plant spans across several hundred acres, serving as the site for iPhone manufacturing in the years to come.
Furthermore, Tata Group has plans to introduce 100 Apple Authorized Stores across the nation, catering to India’s vast population of 1.4 billion.
