India Poised to Reject Apple’s Demand for Manufacturing Sops

(Bloomberg) -- India is not in favor of offering Apple Inc. concessions to start manufacturing iPhones in the country, a government official told reporters on Tuesday.

The government is also unlikely to ease norms governing local sourcing for the manufacturer of iPads and iPhones as such a step can’t be granted to just one company, according to the New Delhi-based official, who didn’t want to be identified citing rules on speaking to the media.

Last year, India eased regulations that required technology product makers such as Apple source at least 30 percent of their components locally before they can open a single-brand company-owned outlets in the country. The Cupertino, California-based company, whose markets in the West and in China are getting saturated, has been keenly looking toward India, the world’s fastest growing smartphone geography, to grow sales of its devices where it currently has about 2 percent market share.

The phonemaker is said to have written to the industry ministry in November seeking further concessions including lower import and excise duties.

Apple India didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment. Mattu J.P. Singh, a spokeswoman at India’s commerce and industry ministry, didn’t answer two calls made to her mobile phone.

--With assistance from Saritha Rai To contact the reporter on this story: Shruti Srivastava in New Delhi at ssrivastav74@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Unni Krishnan at ukrishnan2@bloomberg.net, Subramaniam Sharma