Subhechcha Ganguly 
Google is thinking about moving its manufacturing to India in light of the geopolitical conflict between the United States and China and the severe COVID-19 regulations in the latter. Following the geopolitical unrest and economic disputes with China, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is thinking about moving the manufacturing of its hardware products to India. According to reports, the tech giant has requested bids from manufacturers in India to produce 5–10 lakh units of its Pixel smartphones. The story cited a source when it claimed that the figure corresponds to 10%–20% of the device’s total expected annual manufacturing.The concept has been considered by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, but no final decision has been made. Taiwan and Vietnam are more choices that Alphabet is looking into.
Through contract manufacturing partners Foxconn and Wistron, Apple Inc., the company’s primary smartphone rival, already produces at least four models up to the iPhone 13 in India. It is apparently thinking of releasing the most recent iPhone model, the iPhone 14, in India as well. The extensive, protracted lockdowns in China caused by COVID have impeded the global supply chain and created significant difficulties for retail, logistics, and exports to the US.The move also occurs in the middle of a worldwide semiconductor arms race. According to an employee, the situation has been particularly terrible for Google, which has been hampered by protracted delays in obtaining components for certain of its products.
Manufacturers looking to establish a base in India cite the government’s innovative performance-linked incentive (PLI) programmes for boosting local manufacturing as one of their motivations.
The PLI plan for “large-scale electronics manufacturing” provides financial incentives to the nation’s domestic manufacture of cell phones and other hardware parts. Additionally, businesses that produce in India might choose not to pay the 10% tariff that is necessary to import printed circuit boards (PCBs).Samsung and Apple have joined the “Make in India” movement. In order to take advantage of the programme, Samsung established the “largest mobile device manufacturing factory” in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Due to the fact that Apple’s newest phone will be produced in India, the company is also benefiting.
The union government prodded Apple earlier this year to establish India as its worldwide hub and ship fully assembled devices to the rest of the world. Additionally, it required the IT behemoth to produce $5 billion worth of output annually over the following five to six years. In the current fiscal year, Foxconn and Wistron, Apple’s contract manufacturers, are anticipated to produce iPhones worth INR 47,000 Cr in India. In contrast, the two companies produced iPhones in India for INR 10,000 Cr in FY22.
