Serious about manufacturing iPhones in India, Cupertino, California-based Apple has requested concessions from India’s government. These are exemptions from the country’s product labeling regulations, and tax relief. The company has filed a formal request to India’s Department of Revenue and Department of Electronics and Information Technology requesting to be excluded from the mandatory product labeling information so that it can maintain the iPhones minimalist look.
India is one of Apple’s biggest growth markets, and manufacturing iPhones in the country will give Apple the option of opening its own stores without the necessity of middlemen or distributors – a strategy that China‘s Huawei has successfully followed.
Forbes reports that India’s smartphone market is expected to overtake the U.S.’s next year and become the second largest in the world behind China, according to recent research by IDC.