Apple likely to double employee base to two lakh in India: Report

Apple has opened the doors to its two stores in India’s Delhi and Mumbai this week and a report suggests the US tech giant is likely to double its employment base at its contract manufacturers in the country to around two lakh soon.

"Apple has created one lakh employment in India. Based on the discussions, we feel that they will double the employment base very soon," PTI reported citing a government source. It added that Apple CEO Tim Cook has sought government support to widen its components supplier base in India.

One of the PTI sources said Cook has also asked support to skill Indian manpower to suit the company's requirement, to which the government has asked the firm to define a skill set, and it will support in facilitating it.

Apple mainly assembles iPhones in India through contract manufacturers, but has plans to expand into iPads and AirPods. The company has three vendors in India that assemble its iPhones – Foxconn, Pegatron, and Wistron.

According to a Business Standard report, women workers in blue-collar jobs account for 72 percent of the over one lakh direct jobs generated by Apple’s vendors and their ecosystem in their factories in India. It suggests that most jobs have been created in the last 20 months, and most of the women workers have entered the job market for the first time.

Giving the breakup, the report said Foxconn factory has 30,000 women workers out of a total of 35,000 employees. Among component suppliers, Jabil employs 4,200 women (70 percent) out of 6,000.

Meanwhile, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the deputy information technology minister, has told Reuters that Apple could double or triple investments in India along with exports in the next few years.

"I am very confident that this Apple-India partnership has a lot of headroom for investments, growth, exports and jobs - doubling and tripling over coming years," Rajeev Chandrasekhar, told the news agency.

Apple has been trying to make India a bigger manufacturing base to reduce its reliance on China. Its products, including iPhones, are being assembled in India by Taiwanese contract electronics makers Foxconn and Wistron Corp.