Tata Group’s Game-Changer: iPhone Manufacturing in India with Rs. 1,000 Crore Wistron Deal

Tata Group is set to manufacture iPhones in India. A deal to acquire Apple supplier Vistron’s factory was finalized on Friday. The board of directors of Vistron approved this sale on Friday. After this approval, Minister of Information and Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, announced that iPhone production would start within a year.

Following Tata’s tech takeover, India will have its first local production line for Apple products. Tata Group’s company, Tata Electronics Private Limited (TEPL), has made a deal to acquire Vistron Infocom Manufacturing (India) Private Limited for approximately $125 million (around INR 1,000 crore).

In 2008, the Taiwanese company Vistron entered the Indian market, providing repair services for various devices. In 2017, the company expanded its operations and began the production of iPhones for Apple. Vistron’s plant in India currently employs more than 10,000 workers.

Vistron has been facing challenges due to declining profits, primarily because of the conditions set by Apple, which required them to reduce their earnings. As a result, Vistron has decided to sell its iPhone assembly factory in India. With Tata’s acquisition, this facility will be India’s sole assembly plant for iPhones.

Currently, Vistron’s Indian plant has eight production lines for iPhones. Following the transfer to Tata, Vistron will exit the Indian market entirely, as their assembly plant is the only one of its kind in India.

Out of the three Taiwanese companies that assemble Apple products, only Vistron has left the Indian market. Last year, Apple announced plans to shift about 25% of its global production to India due to trade tensions between China and the United States. Vistron was the only one among the three Taiwanese companies assembling Apple products in India that exited the market. Meanwhile, Foxconn and Pegatron have expanded their production lines in India.