India: “The dynamism…vibrancy is unbelievable,” says Apple’s Tim Cook
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The worldwide belief that India, at 6.5 percent, is currently the planet’s fastest-growing economy amid a recessionary trend elsewhere got a fillip in Apple Inc.’s CEO Tim Cook’s observation that the South Asian nation is at a “tipping point.”
Cook, who opened two of India’s first two Apple exclusive stores in April and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, remarked on Thursday: “The dynamism in the market. The vibrancy is unbelievable.”
He singled out India on Thursday as pivotal for the iPhone maker, underscoring how the world’s most populous country with over 1.4 billion people is on the cusp of becoming both a major market and production base, the media reported.
Cook, and his lieutenants, mentioned India nearly 20 times on a conference call after unveiling the company’s earnings. Apple posted record sales for the last quarter of FY23 in India, reflecting its increasing reliance on this surging market to galvanize overall growth.
“There are a lot of people coming into the middle class and I really feel that India is at a tipping point,” Cook said, adding: “And the dynamism in the market. The vibrancy is unbelievable.”
Apple plans to tap an immense labor pool and accelerate its growth in India where rising incomes are boosting consumer spending, at a time smartphone sales are plateauing elsewhere in the world.
According to Bloomberg, Apple posted nearly USD 6 billion in sales there in 2022-23.
The iPhone behemoth is trying to reduce its reliance on China as tensions between Washington and Beijing continue to escalate.
Apple’s longtime partners, who make most of the world’s iPhones in China, have added assembly lines elsewhere at a rapid pace over the past year.
