Apple cuts ribbon in India; Initiates manufacturing in Bengaluru

The US tech giant Apple will now manufacture its iPhones, iPads and other benchmark products in Bengaluru. The Karnataka government has recently issued a release welcoming Apple's proposal "to commence initial manufacturing operations" in the state.
 
The release said the state ministers and officials had met with several senior Apple executives including Cupertino-based Priya Balasubramaniam, VP-iPhone operations, Dheeraj Chugh, the director of iPhone operations and Ali Khanafer, the senior manager of government affairs (India and Middle East). The release, signed by state IT minister Priyank Kharge, said Apple's intentions to manufacture in Bengaluru "will foster cutting edge technology ecosystem and supply chain development in the state, which are critical for India to compete globally."  
 
In December, Apple came out with job openings on its portal for several positions at its OEM in Bengaluru, including an iPhone operations program manager whose responsibility would involve leading the OEM operations team, managing component readiness, ensuring parts availability, quality and collaborating with cross-functional supply chain teams. Besides, Apple will begin the manufacturing process at the Bengaluru plant with its partner Wistron, a Taiwanese company which manufacturers OEMs for Apple. Though it did not provide a timeline, the production is expected to begin in June.

At present, Apple has 766 suppliers, of which 346 are based in China, 126 in Japan, and 69 in the US. There is one in India, a unit of Flextronics in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.