India’s iPhone push underscores limits of Make in India manufacturing drive
India’s push into high-tech manufacturing is drawing both strong support and sharp criticism as the country uses billions of dollars in subsidies to build domestic production. Apple’s expanding iPhone assembly base near Chennai has become a central example in that debate, with supporters citing scale and jobs while critics question how much value is really being created.
Highlights
- Apple now produces a quarter of all iPhones at factories near Chennai, employing tens of thousands and highlighting India's manufacturing ambitions.
- Critics argue India's role remains primarily final assembly with low value addition, falling short of developing China's export-driven industrial ecosystem.
- Vietnam's stronger merchandise exports, despite a smaller economy, challenge Prime Minister Modi's Make in India narrative and the impact of marquee investments.
Apple’s India expansion and the manufacturing debate
As reported by Bloomberg, Apple Inc.’s effort to build an alternative supply chain outside China is giving fresh visibility to India’s manufacturing ambitions. A quarter of all iPhones now roll out of factories near Chennai, and those facilities employ tens of thousands of workers.Supporters of the shift see the production buildout as evidence that India can attract global technology manufacturing at scale. The investment also fits a broader government strategy to use large subsidy programs to pull more advanced industry into the country.
Questions over value addition and export strength
Skeptics argue that much of the work being done in India remains final assembly, or so-called screwdriver work, which adds limited value compared with deeper manufacturing capabilities. In that view, headline investment and output figures do not yet prove that India is developing the kind of industrial ecosystem that made China a global export powerhouse.Critics also point to Vietnam’s stronger merchandise exports despite its much smaller economy, saying that comparison weakens claims around Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India initiative. The contrast suggests that attracting marquee production lines alone may not be enough for India to become the next China in high-tech manufacturing.
We previously reported on India’s widening merchandise trade deficit in September, as imports rose faster than exports and the higher bill was partly driven by elevated crude oil prices. That update also noted India’s efforts to diversify export markets through new and advancing trade agreements, highlighting the broader challenge of strengthening export momentum while import costs remain high.
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