Apple creates 100,000 new jobs in 19 months under Centre’s PLI scheme

The Apple ecosystem has created 100,000 blue-collar jobs in the last 19 months under the central government's Production Linked Incentive (PLI) programme. This is the largest number of jobs created by the company, a report said.

The jobs were created following the PLI program, which was launched in August 2021. Apple's key Indian resellers and their ecosystem of component suppliers assisted in the production of iPhones. The three vendors that assemble the iPhone — Foxconn Hon Hai, Pegatron and Wistron — together created 60 percent of the new jobs. This exceeds their second year commitment to create new jobs under the program by around 7,000 new jobs.

The data is based on three retailers and companies in the Apple ecosystem that are required to regularly submit employment numbers to government authorities. It is estimated that several thousand more jobs will be added before the new financial year. The remaining jobs were created by the Apple ecosystem, which includes companies such as Tata Electronics, Salcomp, Avary, Foxlink. Sunwoda and Jabilsuppliers. These companies supply Apple with electronic components and chargers. Together, these suppliers created 40,000 additional jobs.

Of the 100,000 new jobs, Tamil Nadu-based Foxconn Hon Hai, which exclusively manufactures iPhones, created more than 35,500, the largest number of jobs among suppliers. Meanwhile, Karnataka-based Wistron has created 12,800 jobs. Other contributors are Salcomp with more than 11,000 employees, along with Jabil, Foxlink and Sunwoda.

The center also estimated that for every direct job, the electronics manufacturing industry creates nearly three times the number of indirect jobs. According to this calculation, the total number of direct and indirect jobs created by the Apple ecosystem would be close to 300,000. According to the India Cellular and Electronics Association, the total number of jobs created directly and indirectly by mobile device manufacturers and their suppliers is around two million in seven years.