Apple is trying to diversify its supply chain partners apart from only China. The company is focusing its plans on India as well. According to DigiTimes, Apple has reportedly created around 20,000 job opportunities in the country since last year. If it wasn’t for the pandemic, the numbers could be even higher.
Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron were committed to creating a certain number of job opportunities when they applied to enter the subsidies program under India’s Production Incentive, as told by DigiTimes.
Foxconn and Wistron have hired over 7,500 workers each since August 2020. Wistron’s operation, for example, had been already approaching 10,000 jobs when a riot by workers took place at its plant last year.
DigiTimes says that other Apple suppliers such as Sunwoda Electronic, Foxlink, and Salcomp, which didn’t receive the PLI qualification, have also hired a total of around 5,000 people in India.
From 2018 to 2020, Apple’s suppliers operating in India increased from six to nine. According to DigiTimes, if “Foxconn and Wistron successfully meet their hiring plans pledged in their PLI application, they will each be adding 23,000 people to their Indian operations by the end of March 2022.”
Pegatron plans to hire 6,000-7,000 workers in India by the end of March 2022. Pegatron India has not started operations yet as it only decided the location of it production site in India earlier this year.
After a peak of COVID-19 cases in May in India, the country seems to be recovering from a total collapse of its health system. Still, the country is recording around 100,000 cases each day, and Apple suppliers are having to hold back their efforts to create job opportunities in the country.
Many manufactures have delayed their recruiting activities as workers have returned to their hometowns to escape COVID-19 and created a shortage of labor supply, says DigiTimes.
