India's finance minister has reportedly ratified a ruling that Apple must follow local sourcing rules, potentially halting the company's near-term attemps to launch its first stores in the country.
Arun Jaitley the Foreign Investment Promotion Board's view that Apple , sources told Bloomberg on Wednesday. Indian regulations normally state that a foreign business must source at least 30 percent of its components locally if it's running a single-brand store.
That's currently impossible for Apple, as the company's suppliers are based mostly in China and have no manufacturing footprint in India. Foxconn is , but no deal has been signed, and even then construction could take about a year and a half.
Jaitley's decision could theoretically be overturned, but that might require the personal intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose platform is based to a degree on a "Make in India" initiative intended to encourage local manufacturing. Cook , discussing retail stores and manufacturing as two of many topics.
Without any stores of its own, Apple has had to adapt to the country's unique retail landscape through various third-party distribution and reseller deals. The strategy has seen some success, although the iPhone has just a 2 percent share of the country's phone market.