Apple’s Mumbai, Delhi Retail Stores To Open On April 18 & 20; Tim Cook Likely To Inaugurate

New Delhi: Apple Inc. Apple CEO Tim Cook plans a visit next week to inaugurate the iPhone maker’s first store in India, highlighting the company’s goals for the country as a growing market and manufacturing hub. Tim Cook will likely preside over the launch of the twin stores in India’s financial and political capital, according to people with knowledge of the situation, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss private arrangements.

Apple on Tuesday announced that two new locations will open in India on April 18 and April 20, respectively. The visit, which comes seven years after the CEO’s first visit in 2016, coincides with the world’s most valuable corporation reaching important milestones, including record-breaking iPhone sales in India and record-high annual iPhone sales from that country. Export included. ,Also read: FD interest rates for senior citizens 2023: These banks are offering over 9%,

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Cook is planning to open the first Apple Store in India inside a posh mall in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex, or BKC. A few days later, he plans to open a New Delhi store, which is located in an upmarket mall in Saket district. The barriers around that shop were removed on Tuesday.

Both locations have been in the works for some time due to India’s stringent regulations, which prevent international businesses from operating their own brand stores unless they source a substantial percentage of their products domestically.

An email requesting comment on Cook’s visit did not immediately elicit a response from Apple.

In 2020, the company launched its online store in India. The country is the second largest smartphone market in the world and one of the fastest growing, but in a country of 1.4 billion people where affordability is a key factor in buying decisions, Apple’s relatively high sticker prices are still a disincentive. Are.

According to one person, Apple has requested that Cook meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in between the inauguration of the two stores. The Modi administration has promoted electronics manufacturing and offered billions of dollars in incentives to woo Foxconn Technology Group and Pegatron Corporation, two of Apple’s manufacturing partners.

During the Apple earnings call, Cook emphasized the importance of India as a market and production hub. Cook said Apple in the nation “reached record quarterly revenue and very strong double-digit growth year over year” during the most recent such conference call.

On the call, Cook said, “India is a very exciting market for us and an important focus.” “I have high hopes from India.”

,with agency inputs,