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One of the biggest phone manufacturers in the World, Apple has decided to shift its iPhone 11 production from China to Chennai and it is a big deal for India. Apple used to manufacturer other Apple products in India and not the high-end products like iPhones or iPads.

Looks like the i in iPhone stands for India from now on. Apple which is one of the biggest manufacturers of electronic gadgets like phones, laptops and others has now decided to take a big step for India. Apple has confirmed that they will start the production of iPhone level in the Chennai Foxconn plant. Apple has had manufacturing units in India but never did they produce any high-end models like smart phones in the plants in India. It was used for manufacturing things like Air pods or other small end products.

Recently during the coronavirus outbreak Apple had announced that they are investing millions inIndia to expand the Chennai based plant to produce more and more products. This is a big step for India’s Aatmanirbhar initiative or the Self-reliant initiative which was announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Make in India initiative not only is for Indians who are going to focus on buying products made solely in India, this initiative has given certain incentives to manufacturing units to start their manufacturing process in India rather than China. China which is called the manufacturing hub is going downhill slowly because of certain actions. Whether it is the Indo-China war which started on the 15th of July when the Chinese PLA troops killed 20 Indian soldiers unethically or whether it is the trade war with the United States of America which started in 2018 or the war with Tiber or the war that started with Hong Kong after the Beijing announced the new National security law which makes Hong Kong which had a different constitution all together to follow the Chinese communist party. The rules in Hong Kong must be followed the way the China operates.

India did not tolerate the killing of their soldiers and thus began the ongoing tension between the nations. Boycott China movement started in India and also by Indians all over the world including USA and Canada. Indians went on roads to protests the actions of China.

India cancelled all the government contracts with any Chinese link and also took a big move by banning 59 apps from India which had a certain Chinese link to them. These 59 apps also included very popular apps like TikTok, UC Browser, ShareIt and many more. TikTok alone had 200 million Indian users.

After India, USA closed down a Chinese consulate in Houston and says this will not be the only one.

Huge companies like Apple which used to rely on China for the manufacturing of their products are taking a detour. They don’t want to be in the cross fire with any of the big nations because of China and are looking to expand manufacturing units outside China. Taking this to their advantage countries like Taiwan, Vietnam or even India are coming up with new proposals by given much more incentives for the companies to start manufacturing units in their countries.

The Commerce Minister of the country, Piyush Goyal looks very happy with this decision by Apple and tells that this is a boost to India’s Aatmanirbhar initiative. This is the first time Apple had brought top of the line production like iPhone 11 in the country. Earlier in 2019 Apple started manufacturing the iPhone XR model and in 2016 Apple manufactured iPhone SE model in the Bangalore plant in Wistron. Both of these were middle ranged product and iPhone 11 is a high end model which is going to be manufactured in the country.

After iPhone 11, Apple the tech giant also has plans to start the production of iPhone SE 2020 which is the latest model on iPhones.

The two biggest iPhone manufacturers are Foxconn and Pegatron. Foxconn has already announced that they are going to invest 1 billion dollars in India to expand the production unit and the manufacturing unit. This will not just mean that India is going to manufacture Apple’s products but it will be a heavy boost to the economy as it will create thousands of job opportunities in the rural area where the plant is located.

After Foxconn, Pegatron which is the second largest manufacturer of Apple products are going to make a significant amount of investment in India to set up a subsidiary in the near future. With companies choosing India to be their manufacturing hub, it won’t just be a boost to the Make in India initiative but also indirectly help in creating thousands of jobs for the unemployed of the country and thus the same will be reflected in the economy of the country.

By Deepika Agarwal