Apple CEO Tim Cook to visit India next week to open Apple stores in Mumbai and Delhi

Apple will unlock its first store in India inside an upscale mall in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex, or BKC. The second Apple store will be opened in Saket, Delhi. The Cupertino-based company has already announced that Apple BKC will open in Mumbai on April 18, while the second, Apple Saket, will be thrown open to the public in Delhi on April 20.

Tim Cook’s trip to India comes seven years after the CEO’s maiden visit in 2016. The visit also coincides with the world’s most valuable company hitting important markers: India sales of iPhones reaching an all-time high and annual iPhone exports from the country reaching billions of dollars. 

The visit also underscores the company’s ambitions for the country as a growth market and manufacturing base. Amid strained Beijing-Washington relations, Apple is betting on India to diversify its assembly operations beyond China.

India is the world’s second-largest smartphone market. Apple opened its Indian online store in 2020. 

Apple’s upcoming stores in Mumbai and Delhi have been a long time in the making as India’s strict rules forbid global brands from opening own-brand outlets unless they source a significant portion of the goods from within the country. 

During his visit, Cook is also expected to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Indian government has been pushing for electronics manufacturing and has offered billions of dollars in incentives to attract Apple’s manufacturing partners like Foxconn Technology Group and Pegatron Corp.

During an earnings call, Cook stressed on the importance of India as a market and production base. “India is a hugely exciting market for us and a major focus,” Cook said on the call. “I’m very bullish on India.” In a conference, he stated that Apple set “a quarterly revenue record and grew very strong double digits year over year” in the country.