Diversified Indian conglomerate Tata Group is about to sign a deal with Taiwanese company Wistron, which has a major iPhone assembly plant in India. If the deal is successful, it will be the first time an Indian iPhone maker has made an appearance in the country.

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According to Bloomberg, negotiations with Wistron have been going on for several months, and the Indian company aims to finalize the deal by the end of March, two industry circles told the publication. Various options for interaction were discussed, but according to the latest data, we are talking about buying a controlling stake from Tata in a joint venture. Tata will oversee the entire production process with support from Wistron.

Today, iPhones are mostly built by Taiwanese manufacturing giants like Foxconn, Pegatron, and Wistron. The deal with Tata will allow India to create domestic rivals for Chinese manufacturing, which dominates the electronics world – work in China has recently been overshadowed by COVID outbreaks and geopolitical strife.

By March 31st, the basic procedures for closing the deal must be completed in order for Tata Electronics to officially take Wistron’s place in the Indian government’s program that benefits electronics manufacturers. Benefits under the new “cycle” will be paid out as early as April 1st – at the beginning of the Indian fiscal year. According to some sources, Wistron’s iPhone production cost in India could be in the order of $600 million, subject to certain conditions required to receive benefits.

Wistron is one of three Taiwanese iPhone companies in India along with Foxconn and Pegatron. The company is expected to diversify its business, as iPhone production is actually quite low-margin for those who assemble it and get into hardware like servers. Notably, in 2020, Wistron agreed to sell iPhone assembly in China to competitors. However, the latter are only expanding production lines in India to meet Apple’s intention to move iPhone production out of China as much as possible.

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Plant with an area of ​​more than 200,000 m² Located 50km from Bangalore. If the deal is successful, Tata will have 8 assembly lines and 10,000 skilled employees, including several thousand engineers. Wistron may remain a “service partner”.

Tata is consistently taking steps to expand its relationship with Apple. It has accelerated hiring at its plant near Bangalore, which makes components for the iPhone. The company’s territory occupies hundreds of hectares, here Tata could add production lines for iPhone production in the coming years. In addition, Tata announced the opening of 100 Apple Stores in the country, with the first store opening this quarter in Mumbai.

Today, the Tata conglomerate, whose history spans more than 150 years, produces a wide variety of products – from branded salt and tea to Jaguar cars. The company operates local airlines and even Starbucks in the country. Tata is also involved in IT projects, including the development of super applications, and management intends to pay more and more attention to the production of electronics. It was recently reported that iPhone exports from India have skyrocketed over the past nine months.