Apple supplier gets land in Karnataka

Mumbai, March 13: A unit of Apple Inc’s Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron Corp has won approval from Karnataka to build a new assembly facility in the south Indian state, signaling a potential expansion of iPhone assembly work in India.

The Karnataka government has approved Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing India Pvt Ltd’s application for 43 acres of land, roughly 65 km ( 40 miles) from the tech hub of Bengaluru, according to a government document reviewed by Reuters.

Wistron will invest ` 6.8 billion ($ 105 million) to develop this land and manufacture smartphones, internet of things ( IOT) products and biotech devices, the document said.

Wistron, in its proposal to the state government, said the new plant will create about 6,000 jobs.

“When discussions started, their requirement was 50- 100 acres,” a senior government official told Reuters. “But we were not immediately able to provide all the land.”

The official, who declined to be named as discussions were not public, added the state had assured Wistron of meeting the company’s land requirements.

The expansion of manufacturing facility could mean a widening of Apple’s iPhone assembly in India as the US tech giant has to pay steep duties on devices imported into the country.

Analysts see India — one of the world’s fastestgrowing smartphone markets — as key to Apple’s ambitions for a bigger global market share as smartphone sales have slowed in more mature markets.

■ WISTRON ALSO does contract manufacturing for a broad range of other brands. ■ WISTRON’S ICT Service Management Solutions unit currently assembles Apple’s lowcost iPhone SE model in Bengaluru.