Apple Is Cleared For Launch In India

Being on the cutting edge might just give Apple the edge it needs to gain entry into India’s retail market.

The Economic Times is reporting that India’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) plans to recommend to the country’s Finance Ministry that Apple be exempted from rules mandating that products sold by a single-brand retailer in the country be locally sourced at a minimum of 30 percent.

However, foreign direct investment (FDI) norms, explains the outlet, allow the government to relax the mandatory local sourcing norms for companies undertaking single-brand retailing of products in cases where those goods possess state-of-the-art and cutting-edge technology at a level that their production cannot be locally sourced.

According to the DIPP, Apple stores would meet those parameters, with a source telling Economic Times: “The committee has found that [Apple’s] products are cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art. It has recommended to exempt them from the local sourcing norms.”

Apple — which, at present, has no wholly owned store in India (instead selling its products in the country via third-party distributors, such as Redington and Ingram Micro), notes the outlet — will now have to wait and see if the DIPP’s recommendation meets approval from the Finance Ministry until it can set up retail shop in the country.