APPLE CEO EYES DEEPER MARKET ACCESS IN INDIA

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Sunday highlighted the economic impact the company is having on India in a meeting with its Prime Minister as the iPhone maker seeks deeper access to the Indian market behind the US and China.

Mr Cook met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a business summit in Washington at a time when Apple is targeting the nascent Indian market as a revenue source after its sales in China slipped.

Apple has asked Indian government officials for a range of tax and policy changes to help build out its iPhone assembly work in the country. It is seeking permission to open its own retail stores in India where it currently sells iPhones through resellers.

In his meeting, he disclosed that Apple expected its Indian operations to be run completely from renewable energy within the next six months, according to a source. Mr Cook reiterated that Apple had generated 7.4 lakh jobs in India through its so-called “app economy” and Indian developers had created nearly 1 lakh apps for the App Store, the source said.