The ongoing trade war between China and the US is pushing various firms to dilute its dependence on China’s manufacturing sector. Tech giant Apple is also gradually seeking new places to invest for manufacturing to meet its global production demand, further laying foundation to a greater investment in India along with its partners. The company aims to increase its sales in India. Apple Inc., the Silicon Valley based tech giant is set to invest $1 billion in India with Foxconn Technology, a renowned Taiwan-based electronics contract manufacturer, as its investment partner. The company is looking forward to start export of its devices with a ‘Made in India’ mark across the globe to meet the product demand in global markets. This move by Apple comes as China and US are waging a trade war which is prompting various firms, that heavily rely on China for their manufacturing, to find other places to manufacture their products. According to verified sources, Apple would be making the $1 billion investment in India through its company partners. Foxconn, one of the largest contract electronics manufacturers in the world is Apple's largest production partner globally. Foxconn’s production factory in Chennai would be used for manufacturing Apple products for the company’s global markets. Apple presently has an insignificant share of less than 2% in the booming smartphone market of India as the company’s high prices as well as the hefty import tariffs, which are as high as 20%, deter the India’s price sensitive customers. The U.S. tech giant now expects to gain a higher share of smartphone sales using this local push, particularly if its devices get aggressively priced to its Asian competitors. The company also feels that greater production across India, including towards exports, will help it reach the local sourcing norms in the country’s Foreign Direct Investment policy. Apple has already notified the government of India that it plans to create an online selling platform for company products soon, further it also stated that it is planning to establish three brick-and-mortar stores in the coming two-three years. The first of this is scheduled to be launched in 2020 in Mumbai.   Credit source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/apple-set-to-ring-in-1-billion-investment/articleshow/71159370.cms