Tata betting big on Apple iPhone in India, may partner with Rs 5964 crore…

Tata Group is currently looking to open a second iPhone production facility in India after acquiring Wistron's Apple iPhone production line last year. Tata Group has advanced talks to form a joint venture with Pegatron.

According to a report in Reuters, Tata Group is purportedly in advanced talks with Taiwan's Pegatron to form a partnership to manage an iPhone assembly plant that is under construction in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. With the Taiwanese company providing technical and engineering support at the Hosur plant, the move is expected to help Tata boost its plans to begin iPhone manufacturing and help Apple grow its operations in India, sources told Reuters.

With Tata having the majority stake in the partnership, the planned joint venture between Pegatron and Tata is poised to have 20 assembly lines for iPhones. The move is viewed as a strategic alliance that will enable Tata to take advantage of Pegatron's expertise.

The plant in Hosur will be Tata’s second iPhone assembly facility in India, after acquiring  Wistron Infocomm, whose plant in South India is the first iPhone assembly plant in India. With the acquisition of the Wistron plant, Tata Group became the first Indian company to produce iPhones. Currently, Pegatron has a market capitalisation of Rs 5964 crore.