India Says No To Apple’s iPhone Plan

It’s a good news/bad news situation for Apple’s retail situation in India.

While the recent decision by the country’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) to recommend to the Finance Ministry that Apple be exempted from a mandate relating to a local sourcing minimum percentage is a big step forward in the tech giant’s plan to open up retail stores in India, its request to sell refurbished iPhones in the country has hit a brick wall.

Yesterday (May 3), a telecommunications ministry official shared the news, reports Bloomberg, that India has rejected Apple’s application to import and sell previously owned and restored models of its smartphone in the country.

The outlet attests that the company’s rivals may have influenced the Indian ministry’s decision, noting that they campaigned publicly against Apple being allowed to sell refurbished iPhones in India on the basis that the resultant deluge of used electronics into the region (had Apple been approved to import them) would go against the very mandate relating to locally sourced products that Apple remains positioned to be exempted from in regards to opening retail locations.

The rejected application is bad news for Apple, notes Bloomberg, given that India is home to the world’s second-largest mobile phone population and, therefore, presented a great opportunity for Apple to expand its reach of iPhone consumers globally.

Getting iPhones into that country — in which Apple presently, the outlet adds, only holds claim to 2 percent of Indian phone shipments — could have helped Apple in its efforts to confront the first-ever sales dip that it has experienced regarding the iPhone.