Apple meets government officials to talk about opening stores in India

Apple Inc officials have met senior commerce ministry officials to discuss plans on opening stores in India without initially having to source components locally.

Sources said Apple officials discussed details of the new foreign direct investment rules in single-brand retail and the company's retail expansion plans.

Apple officials are believed to have sought clarity on the changes in mandatory domestic sourcing norms for single brand retail, brought in earlier this year.

However, no official word on the meeting was received from either side. In June this year, government had relaxed FDI norms by giving a three-year exemption from local sourcing to foreign players in single-brand retail and a five-year relaxation for "state-of-the-art" and "cutting-edge" technology.

India is one of the fastest growing markets for the Cupertino-based company. In the first three quarters of this financial year, Apple's iPhone sales in India were up 51 per cent year-on-year.

In May this year, Apple's Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook had visited India and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as key industry leaders such as Sunil Bharti Mittal and veteran banker Chanda Kochchar.

Apple had also announced setting up of a design and development accelerator to support Indian developers creating innovative applications for iOS and opened a new office in Hyderabad to accelerate maps development.

Cook during his May visit, had discussed issues including manufacturing and setting up retail stores in the country with Modi. The FDI rules for single brand retail call for mandatory sourcing of at least 30 per cent inputs from domestic companies.