- Tamil Nadu Pollution Board threatened to shut Tata Electronics' Hosur plant over wastewater leaks
- Wastewater from the factory polluted open wells on nearby farmland, violating environmental rules
- Tata received a warning notice on May 25 for ignoring prior regulatory directives since December 2025
The Tamil Nadu pollution Control Board has threatened to shut down Tata Electronics' iPhone components factory in Hosur after finding that wastewater from the plant seeped into open wells on neighbouring farmland, Reuters reported. The anti-pollution body has also accused the company of ignoring regulatory directions for months, according to the news agency.
The board served Tata a warning notice on May 25, asking the company to explain why electricity to the unit should not be disconnected and the facility shut down for the alleged environmental violations, as per Reuters, which reviewed the three-page notice.
The issue goes back to 2025 when farmers owning land adjacent to the Hosur plant raised the alarm for months, complaining that factory effluent was ruining their fields and contaminating their wells.
Their grievances triggered five rounds of state inspections between December 2025 and May 2026 by the board.
Inspectors found that Tata had been releasing wastewater into a rainwater harvesting pond within the premises, which eventually overflowed and polluted groundwater in the surrounding agricultural land, the report said.
What compounded the regulator's concern was that Tata had been put on notice as early as December 23, 2025, but took no corrective action in the months that followed, the warning notice reportedly stated.
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Tata Electronics, in response, told Reuters it had got an independent laboratory analysis done which found the company to be "in full compliance with all regulatory norms."
The company said it was "committed to responsible business practices and protection of the environment and local communities," adding that it had replied to the authorities without elaborating on its response.
The development puts an uncomfortable spotlight on a factory that sits at the heart of India's iPhone manufacturing ambitions.
Tata Electronics is Apple's second-largest supplier in South Asia after Foxconn, and the Hosur plant produces back panels and other critical iPhone components. India is projected to manufacture 26% of all iPhones globally in 2026, up from just 6% four years ago, per research firm Counterpoint.
This is not the first trouble at Hosur, a fire at the same plant in September 2024 had briefly halted production.
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