India shines yet again for Apple as China leads global declines in sales and profit

NEW DELHI: India has once again proven to be the bright spot for American electronics giant Apple, the fast-paced growth coming here at a time when worldwide business has been slowing down due to reversals in the China region, the company’s most-critical market.

Buoyed by the repeated strong performances in India, Apple is now set to open its retail stores in the country as the company has also managed to get a relaxation from the government over local sourcing norms.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, who came calling on India just around two months back for a 4-day visit, showered words of praise on the operations in the country as he announced the company’s quarterly results at the company’s headquarters in the US.


India, which still contributes a small fraction to Apple’s worldwide numbers, shone brightly even as the Greater China region saw numbers go down by 33%. Worldwide sales of the iPhone were down 15% at 40.4 million units while Apple’s profit in the quarter fell by 27% (to $7.8 billion) and revenue skid by 15% to $42.4 billion.

“India is now one of our fastest-growing markets. In the first three quarters of this fiscal year, our iPhone sales in India were up 51% year-on-year,” Cook said in an investors call after the results.

“We’re looking forward to opening retail stores in India down the road, and we see huge potential for that vibrant country,” the Apple CEO said, but did not provide timelines.


It would still be unfair to compare India and China just on growth rates as while India contributes nearly 1% to Apple’s revenues, the share of China is estimated at nearly 25%. The company is also clearing inventory in China which was also attributed to the decline.

Cook has, however, been exceptionally optimistic on India and feels that it could emerge as the “next China” for the company as numbers move up. In an investors meet after the last quarter results in April, he had this to say, “It is already the third largest smartphone market in the world… But I view India as where China was may be seven to ten years ago (and) from that point of view, and I think there’s a really great opportunity there,”

The Indian government is keen that Apple looks at local assembly operations in India as its volumes grow in the country. Speculations around this have been fuelled by plans of Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn – a key Apple supplier -- to set up multiple factories in India. Apple has refused to commit anything on local manufacturing plans.