India can sustain iPhone growth despite Foxconn recall: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said India is steadily building its own electronics manufacturing capabilities and remains confident of sustaining growth despite recent challenges, including the recall of hundreds of Chinese engineers by Apple supplier Foxconn.

“We are developing our own capabilities in a very sustained way… There will be challenges in every growth path, but we have the confidence that we will be able to sustain growth,” Vaishnaw said at an ET Roundtable in New Delhi.

He added that India has made “conscious efforts” over the last three to four years to develop key manufacturing skills and supply chains, including for nearly 1,000 components that go into a mobile phone.


The remarks come after reports surfaced that more than 300 Chinese engineers and technicians left Foxconn’s iPhone assembly facilities in India over the past two months. The move could disrupt preparations for iPhone 17 production, especially at a time when Apple is looking to shift more of its supply chain out of China.

Asked whether India still needs China’s support during this transition, Vaishnaw said, “Support is coming from Taiwan, the US, South Korea, and from our own engineers… The capabilities today we have in our own country are significant, especially design capabilities.”

Foxconn recently set up a new unit at Oragadam in Tamil Nadu and invested $2.56 billion in its Devanahalli plant, where it aims to produce 100,000 iPhones by December. From March to May, Foxconn exported $3.2 billion worth of iPhones from India, 97% of which went to the US.