The Apple Saket store, located in South Delhi, features a distinctive design inspired by the city’s gates. However, it is smaller than the newly opened Apple Store in Jio World Drive at Bandra Kurla Complex. According to news agency PTI, the Saket store is half the size of the Mumbai store and the company will pay a portion of total sales or a monthly rent of ₹40 lakh, whichever is higher.
The Saket store has over 70 retail team members from 18 states in India, who collectively speak more than 15 languages. During his visit, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the company’s plans to invest more in India, the world’s second-largest smartphone market. Government sources suggest that the iPhone maker may soon double its employment base at its contract manufacturers in India to around 2 lakh.
This is Mr. Cook’s first trip to India in seven years, and he opened Apple’s first official retail store in Mumbai on Tuesday, in 2016 when the company was just beginning to expand its operations in India.
With an expanding middle class and a massive market, Apple is looking to replicate the success it had in China over the last 15 years by focusing on India. The tech giant is considering making India a home base for the production of millions of Apple devices to power sales growth.
During his visit, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, met with Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Sources suggest that Cook sought government support to widen its components supplier base in India and discussed the possibility of manufacturing facilities and app design and development accelerator in Bengaluru with both ministers.
