 "Apple sales to climb on relaxed local sourcing")
A revised foreign direct investment (FDI) policy relaxing local sourcing norms for technology device manufacturers will help boost Apple's sales in India.
"It has been decided to relax local sourcing norms up to three years and a relaxed sourcing regime for another five years for entities undertaking single brand retail trading of products having state of art and cutting edge technology," the notification from the prime minister's office said.
Apple, which had applied for the retailing licence before this notification came into effect, will have to reapply.
The relaxation will help other smartphone makers like Xiaomi and Le Eco, which have also applied for single brand retail licences.
Market leader Samsung, which manufactures most of its flagship models locally, is likely to face intensified competition from Apple. The smartphone giants have been fighting for supremacy in India for quite some time now.
"Many smartphone makers are not yet ready to source components locally, mostly due to lack of preferred component makers. This provides the required time to establish that ecosystem," an industry executive said.
Y V Verma, a consumer electronics expert who earlier worked with LG, said, "LG and Samsung have seen better sales in multi-brand stores. So will they want to increase exclusive brand shops?"
"Apple fans walk into a shop with the objective of buying an Apple device and nothing else. The number of such people is only growing," he added.
BIGGER BITE
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Apple iPhones currently holds 42 per cent of the 3.5 million annual premium smartphones market in India
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In 2015, Apple's sales more than doubled as it sold some 2 million iPhones
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Apple holds 4.6 per cent of the markets in the top 30 Indian cities
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In 2015, Apple's retail presence went past 10,000 retailers from less than 6,000 in 2014
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Globally, Apple stands second to Samsung (324.8 million in 2015) with 231.5 million iPhones sold in 2015
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In India, although Samsung rules the market, Apple beats the Korean giant regularly in the above-Rs. 30,000 price segment
