Statsguru: Six charts explain why Apple stores in India are a big deal

One of the world’s biggest companies opened its stores in India last week, but what might be more closely watched than sales could be its impact on employment.

This is not to say that Apple products haven’t been popular in India. The iPhone accounted for nearly a fifth of the total value of smartphones sold here. The company gained market share in 2022 (chart 1).

The financials of unlisted arm Apple India shows surging growth. Its net sales figure of Rs 33,313 crore for 2021-22 was three times the value in 2018-19. The profit-after-tax figure of Rs 1,263 crore was nearly five times its 2018-19 number (chart 2).

The company’s presence and investments have also contributed to India’s burgeoning mobile phone exports, which have grown multi-fold since 2018-19, and are reported to have crossed the Rs 90,000-crore mark in 2022-23. Apple’s India shift is partly to reduce its dependence on China. Others like Samsung are also contributing to India’s growing exports (chart 3).

It is not just mobile phones. Overall production of electronics compared to five years ago has increased (chart 4), aided partly by government programmes like the production-linked incentive scheme.

Overall electronics exports crossed the Rs 1-trillion mark in 2021-22, growing faster than imports in two out of the last three years for which data is available (chart 5).

India’s demand for smartphones took a hit in 2022 amid rising prices, shortage of components, and geopolitical tensions. This is expected to bounce back in 2023 (chart 6). Employment will get a boost if more companies like Apple are able to set up manufacturing units to cater to this growing demand.

Similar factory jobs played a significant role in boosting China’s income per person to nearly $20,000 (2021) as measured by the World Bank in purchasing power parity terms. Apple set up its first store in Asia’s manufacturing hub only in 2008. China’s income per person at that time was about $7,500, roughly the same as currently in India.