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Technology major Apple plans to increase its manufacturing in India to 25 per cent of its total production, up from the present 5-7 per cent, said Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
“Apple, is another success story of India,” said Goyal, highlighting the manufacturing opportunity India offered to the world. “Apple is already at about 5-7 per cent of their manufacturing in India. If I am not mistaken, they are targeting to go up to 25 per cent of their manufacturing. They launched the most recent models manufactured in India,” he added while speaking at the ‘B20 India Inception Meeting’ organised by the CII in Gandhinagar on Monday.
Goyal’s statement is important as Apple has recently started exploring the option of moving part of its manufacturing and assembling plants from China to India as a result of disruptions caused by the zero Covid-19 policy followed by Beijing till recently.
The Minister said that no other market in the world was as big as the India opportunity today.
“We would like to share with the world the big opportunity of economic growth that India has to offer. We can stay competitive even while we collaborate and see collectively how we can serve the world with India as the base,” he said.
He said India followed rule of law with transparent policies and no hidden subsidies, which made it an attractive proposition.
Decoupling and de-monopolisation of global value chain (GVC) is important and the B20 must seriously work on it in addition to issues including bridging the digital divide and climate finance, pointed out Amitabh Kant, India’s G20 Sherpa.
Learning lesson that the B20 draws from the communication at the meet will be critical for Sherpa communication and used as inputs for G20 policy making, he added.
B20 has the mandate of representing the voice of the international business community on global economic issues and feeds into the deliberations of several tiers of G20 meetings including the Leaders’ Summit.
“The seven task forces we are focused on are all needed by the world at this time and for the coming decades. The first theme is on the global supply chain and how we bring resilience in them. The second one is on the Future of Work. All of us know how it is being redefined,” N Chandrasekaran, Chair, B20 India & Chairman, Tata Sons said.
India, which holds the rotating G20 Presidency in 2023, will host the eighteenth G20 Summit in September, and has announced its intention to champion the voice of developing nations while promoting inclusive growth during its presidency.
The B20 meet in Gandhinagar is being attended by over 600 delegates, including top business representatives from G20 countries.
G20 members include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.
Interest rates
Strict measures taken by the government to keep inflation under control may persuade the RBI to take appropriate action on interest rates going forward, said Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, indicating that it may be brought down by the central bank.
“The current situations of war and the Covid pandemic has impacted the interest rates in recent times,” he told the media. He added that India has done a good job so far in controlling inflation when worldwide countries were struggling to deal with it.
“In countries, where inflation used to be 1-2 per cent annually, has now touched 10-12 per cent, some even say it has touched the 40-yr peak. In such a situation, the way India has controlled its inflation, has sparked discussions all over the world,” Goyal said.
The government is taking strict measures to keep inflation under control, the Minister said. “I believe going forward the RBI will make appropriate action considering these measures,” he added.
(Travel to Gandhinagar for the reporter was sponsored by CII)
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