Apple sets up design, R&D subsidiary in India While smartphone maker Apple is expanding its manufacturing base in India, it has also laid the foundation for conducting research, development and design operations in the country, in a bid to increase local value addition while leveraging India’s skilled engineering base.
The company has set up a wholly-owned subsidiary called Apple Operations India that will “engage in the business of managing procurement, development, manufacturing support and other related operations such as processing, conducting research, development and design relating to science, engineering, technology, applied technology, programming, computer-related research and systems, information technology and related technical support, testing and technical analysis,” according to filings with the Registrar of Companies. Storie News
The company currently does not have a design base in India, and has such operations in countries such as the US, China and Israel.
The development comes at a time when the central government is pushing companies like Apple India to set up R&D and design in India while expanding their assembly and manufacturing base in the country. India is a major design hub for many global electronics companies, especially those in the semiconductor space.
However, most smartphone companies are yet to design in India. “The government sees design and R&D as a major part of domestic value addition in the electronics sector. As companies move more of their assembly operations to the country, having a design unit will help India create more space within the research ecosystem. We have a large pool of design engineers in the country, which is why all major chip companies do R&D here.
We expect a similar development in the smartphone segment,” a senior government official said.
Apple is steadily laying the groundwork to expand its presence in India, including assembly operations on the manufacturing side and official stores on the consumer side. It is also one of the beneficiaries of the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile phone manufacturing.