Apple’s second-largest contract manufacturer Pegatron, which registered its India subsidiary in July this year, has approved an initial investment of $150 million for setting up manufacturing facilities in the South Asian country.
Pegatron’s factory in India is expected to kickstart production in the second half of 2021 or in early 2022, CEO Liao Syh-jang said in an investor conference last week, adding the company plans to make more investments in India over the next two years.
The Taipei-headquartered iPhone assembler said that it has been harder for Pegatron staff to visit India due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in delays.
Along with other two Apple suppliers, Pegatron has been cleared to avail benefits under the federal government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.
It must be mentioned here that Pegatron doesn’t have operations in the country so far, and will start availing of the incentives under the PLI scheme only from April 1 next year.
The Cupertino-based giant is heavily investing in the local assembly of iPhones in India as it diversifies outside of China amidst heightened tensions between the US and China.
Via Foxconn and Wistron, Apple has ramped up its exports this year, data showed.
As for Pegatron, it must single-handedly produce handsets worth Rs 4000 crore in its first year which starts in March 2021 under the central government’s PLU scheme.