Apple to open first India store in financial hub of Mumbai

Apple Inc. is set to open its first official retail store in India soon, a landmark move for the iPhone maker which is placing big bets on the South Asian nation for everything from manufacturing to sales.

The company released a picture of the barricade of its retail store in India’s financial capital of Mumbai on Wednesday, though stopped short of giving a date for its opening.

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The store, housed in a posh shopping mall owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, is located in the city’s main business district alongside multinational banks.

The launch highlights Apple’s push to expand in the South Asian country that’s set to overtake China as the world’s most populous nation this year.

India’s growing middle class is an attractive target group for the company’s pricey smartphones and computers, and Apple is expanding its manufacturing operation in the country too.

Apple is also building a store in the capital, New Delhi.

The US tech giant this year reshuffled the management of its international businesses to put a bigger focus on India, where online sales helped it report record revenue in the quarter to December. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has said Apple is putting “a lot of emphasis” on the market and compared the current state of its work in India to its early years in China.

Apple has also made quiet but steady efforts to shift more production away from China to countries including India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s local manufacturing push, financial incentives and India’s relatively cheaper labor have led its key Taiwanese supplier partners Foxconn Technology Group, Pegatron Corp. and Wistron Corp. to ramp up iPhone production in the country.

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