Having taken up the task to ensure that India becomes Apple’s new manufacturing powerhouse for iPhones, Tata Sons is planning to setup a mobile phone and component manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu to make iPhone parts and is seeking up to $1 billion through overseas loans for the same, as per news sources. This plan is supposedly a part of Tata Group’s Chairman, N Chandrasekaran’s bid to attract the likes of Apple to India, as many smartphone manufacturing giants are seeking for alternative production sites outside of China.

This partnership with Apple will be part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ push. Sources said that the initiative will be headed by the Tata Sons’ wholly-owned subsidiary – Tata Electronics – which will begin with iPhone casings and eventually partner up with other OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) in South Korea and Japan. As per sources, the Tata Group is looking forward to putting together a five to seven year funding, latest by January, and looks to kick off the project by the third quarter of 2021.

The idea of this partnership was born during the pandemic when Tata Group recognised a big enough gap in the demand-supply in precision engineering components in India, along with several global markets, which could be tapped. Tata and Apple already share an existing relationship involving the retail chain Croma. Apple has been assembling some iPhone models in India, thus, manufacturing them here would be the next logical step.

For now, both – Tata Group and Apple – are keeping the details under wraps though sources have indicated that Tata Electronics looks to kick off the project soon and announce the partnership with Apple thus showcasing their capabilities.