Apple’s iPhone factories won’t make India the next China
India’s cumbersome bureaucracy and its cautious tycoons will struggle to match that combination of speed, scale and risk-taking.
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A quarter of all iPhones now roll out of factories near Chennai, employing tens of thousands.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Andy Mukherjee
High-tech manufacturing in India, backed by billions of dollars in government subsidies, has attracted both cheerleaders and critics.
Optimists point to Apple’s decision to build an alternative supply chain to hedge against China. A quarter of all iPhones now roll out of factories near Chennai, employing tens of thousands. Sceptics counter that much of this manufacturing is mere final assembly – screwdriver work that adds little value. The fact that a much smaller economy such as Vietnam exports more merchandise, they argue, shows that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” initiative remains more hype than reality.