Strong growth in India helps Apple post a record Q1
NEW DELHI: Strong double-digit growth in markets like India and Latin America have helped iphone maker Apple report a double-digit revenue growth at $81.4 billion—a new record for the June quarter, according to its chief executive officer Tim Cook.
Apple registered a net income of $21.7 billion in the June 2021 quarter as against $11.2 billion in the year-ago period. The total net sales increased to $81.4 billion from $59.6 billion from June 2020 quarter. These are global numbers and the company does not disclose country-specific financial numbers.
Apple has reported a very strong quarter with double-digit revenue growth across product and services categories and in every geographic segment, Cook said during the earnings call. “We set a new June quarter revenue record of $81.4 billion, up 36 per cent from last year, and the vast majority of markets we tracked grew double digits, with especially strong growth in emerging markets, including India, Latin America and Vietnam,” he added.
Cook noted that the company had an “incredible quarter” for the emerging markets.
“We set June quarter records in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Turkey, UAE, Poland, Czech Republic, India, obviously in China as I talked about before, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia,
Indonesia... Those results are for the entire line of products that we have,” Cook said. While Americas contributed $35.8 billion to the revenues, Europe accounted for $18.9 billion, Greater China $14.7 billion, Japan $6.4 billion and Rest of Asia Pacific $5.3 billion. iphone accounted for $39.5 billion of the total net sales, followed by Mac, ipad, wearables and home products, and services. Apple, which competes with players like Samsung and Oneplus in the premium smartphone segment, has been aggressively ramping up its presence in the Indian market. Asked about switchers and upgraders in emerging markets and range of iphones for different customers, Cook said the firm has a lineup of products catering to different segments.
“We had an incredible quarter for the emerging markets in Q3. We set June quarter records in UAE, Poland, India, obviously in China as I talked about before, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia... Those results are for the entire line of products that we have,” he said.
“And so I’m pleased with how all of them are doing and I think we need sort of that range of price points to accommodate the types of people that we want to accommodate. And so we’ve got something for the entry buyer who really wants to get into an iphone and then something for the pro buyer who wants the very best iphone that they can buy,” Cook noted.
MUMBAI: Four Mauritius-based funds that have attracted attention for parking almost all their money in companies controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani have a history of investing in firms which ended up defaulting or were investigated for wrongdoing.
Before they put about 90% of their $6.9 billion under management in the Adani empire, the funds—elara India Opportunities Fund, Cresta Fund, Albula Investment Fund and APMS Investment Fund—held significant stakes in two companies whose founders fled India and have since been probed for money laundering, another that went bankrupt, and a fourth that was liquidated after sparring with the Ethiopian government. Because the funds are registered in the tax haven of Mauritius, their ownership structure is opaque. Cresta, Albula and Elara have been subject to at least one probe for alleged round-tripping, Firstpost website reported in 2018. This is a process illegal under Indian rules where money is transferred typically to a shell company before being returned, giving the impression the funds originate from a clean source. Indian authorities struggled to identify who ultimately controls the money, according to the report.
Some lawmakers are now seeking an investigation into whether the Mauritius funds are being used as a shell for Adani’s own money. Mahua Moitra, an opposition lawmaker and former investment banker, questioned the ultimate ownership of the funds in parliament last week, saying that the information should be public given the Adani group holds stakes in strategic Indian infrastructure like ports, airports and power plants.
“We want to know whose money is it,” Moitra said in a text message to Bloomberg News. “If it is Adani’s money, then minority shareholders are being screwed. If it is not, then which actors have so much say in our strategic assets?”
In a written reply July 19 to Moitra’s questions posed to parliament, junior finance minister Pankaj Chaudhary said neither the funds nor Adani firms are being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate, the Indian agency that probes serious financial crimes like money laundering and round-tripping. Some Adani group companies are being examined by the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India for compliance with securities rules as well as by the department that looks at import and export taxes, Chaudhary said without elaborating, and cited rules that forbid him from disclosing any income tax investigations.