Tata Group, India’s biggest conglomerate, plans to open 100 exclusive Apple stores in India, The Economic Times reported Monday, citing two insider sources familiar with the matter.
According to the report, Infiniti Retail of Tata Group, which owns the Croma consumer electronics store chain, will become an Apple-authorised retailer and open stores in shopping centers, high streets, and neighborhood locations. Tata is already in talks for acquiring leases in these spots.
The lease terms also include information about brands and stores that can’t be opened in the vicinity of these outlets, as per a retail consultant who informed the media.
Reuters reached out to Apple and Tata Group for an official comment, but it’s yet to receive a response.
This development comes less than two weeks after the Economic Times reported the Tata Group had been in discussions to purchase Wistron Corp.’s sole manufacturing plant in India, for as much as $605 million.
Bloomberg reported that Tata and Wistron, Taiwan’s largest vendor of Apple products in India, were discussing forming a joint venture to produce iPhones in India.
Apple’s current generation iPhone 14 series is still struggling with production issues no thanks to COVID-19-related lockdowns in China. These lockdowns are slowing down Apple’s biggest iPhone manufacturer Foxconn, which is working at a significantly reduced output capacity.
Other production plants are either closed off completely or are also working at half of their maximum capacity.
This is the main reason why Apple has been looking to diversify its production sites outside of China. But as it stands, India is only assembling a small percentage of the base iPhone 14 and other Apple products.
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