By Krishna N. Das and Tanvi Mehta
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -U.S. tech giant Apple could double or triple investments in India along with exports in the next few years, a minister said, as the company opened a second store in the big mobile phone market.
Apple mainly assembles iPhones in India through contract manufacturers, but has plans to expand into iPads and AirPods.
“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, the deputy information technology minister, told Reuters.
His comments came after a meeting on Wednesday with Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook in the capital, New Delhi.
Cook, who also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Apple was “committed to growing and investing across the country”.
He inaugurated an Apple store in New Delhi on Thursday two days after opening its first outlet in Mumbai, India’s commercial capital.
“We’ve come here only to see Tim Cook,” said Manika Mehta, 32, an Android phone user who queued at the Delhi store in a gesture of support for her husband, an Apple fan.
About 500 people had gathered for Cook’s brief appearance, in which he spoke with fans and took selfies, as in Mumbai.
Cook’s visit has drawn extensive media coverage and he has been feted like a Bollywood star, with some people trying to touch his feet in a traditional gesture of respect, while others asked for his autograph.
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.
(Reporting By Krishna N. Das; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Clarence Fernandez)
