MUMBAI: Smartphone component maker Wistron Corp, which counts Apple Inc among its customers, has applied for permission to expand its plant in the Indian city of Bengaluru, a high-ranking regional government official said.
The Taiwanese contract manufacturer has also requested that its application be fast-tracked, the official at the state government of Karnataka in southern India said.
The move comes less than two weeks after the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was in talks with India’s federal government about the possibility of assembling products in one of the world’s biggest smartphone markets, where the US tech firm controls less than 2 per cent.
Apple setting up production in India would be a significant win for the government which has embarked on a major campaign to attract global manufacturers under the slogan “Make in India”.
“Wistron has approached us to expedite certain clearances with regards to the augmentation and expansion of its existing unit,” said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and so declined to be identified.
Whether Apple will begin manufacturing in India is unknown, but Wistron’s desire to expand “pretty quickly” could represent “several steps in that direction,” the official said. Apple did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. — Reuters
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