Apple’s sales in key markets like India reach record US$8 billion: Bloomberg

Apple Inc’s annual sales in India reached a record of nearly US$8 billion in the recently ended fiscal year 2023-24, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the data.

India revenue in the 12 months through March rose nearly 33 per cent from $6 billion a year earlier, Bloomberg reported.

The iPhone maker is making big strides in India, a key market with a huge population and the fastest-growing country among major economies.

The special thing is that Apple now assembles its new iPhones in India itself. The iPhone maker has two flagship stores in India – one in Delhi and one in Mumbai – which will be launched in 2023.

More than half of those sales were of Apple’s more expensive iPhones, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the information hasn’t been made public, Bloomberg reported.

In 2017, Apple began manufacturing iPhones in India. The central government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme has also attracted many gadget makers, including Apple, to set up their businesses in the country.

Apple’s iPhone exports are projected to increase from US$6.27 billion in FY 2022–23 to US$12.1 billion in 2023–24.

Faced with supply chain disruptions, especially after the onset of the COVID pandemic in 2020 and the subsequent escalation of geopolitical tensions, many major global companies, especially those in the manufacturing sector, are diversifying their operations across sectors. These clear trends of business diversification are basically to reduce risk and enhance resilience.

Apple is also targeting India to diversify its manufacturing and revenue sources beyond China.

In such a situation, this means for companies to explore emerging global supply chain regions for diversification, and India, given its political stability and dynamic workforce and huge market opportunity with steadily rising income levels, is being considered as one of the best places to set up a manufacturing base.

India remains the fastest growing major economy and is set to maintain its growth rate going forward. India’s economy is projected to grow by 8.2 per cent in 2023-24, 7.2 per cent in 2022-23 and 8.7 per cent in 2021-22, respectively.

The size of India’s GDP currently ranks 5th after the US, China, Germany and Japan. It will overtake the UK in 2022. Just a decade ago, the Indian GDP was the eleventh largest in the world. Currently, India’s GDP is estimated to be around US$3.7 trillion. India aims to reach US$5 trillion in the near future.