Indian conglomerate Tata Group was tipped to soon finalise a bid to take over an iPhone assembly plant in the southern state of Karnataka from Taiwan-headquartered contract manufacturer Wistron.

Bloomberg reported Tata Group is pushing to complete the deal by end-March to ensure it is eligible to receive production-linked incentives in the next round of a government programme which begins on 1 April.

Local media stated at end-November 2022 Tata Group was in talks with Wistron, one of three major Apple contract manufacturers operating in India, to buy a plant that assembles iPhone SE, iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models for INR50 billion ($610.6 million).

In early December 2022 The Wall Street Journal reported Apple accelerated a move to shift some production out of China, where factories were hit by protests fuelled by the country’s zero-Covid-19 (coronavirus) policy.

In August 2022 Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn) planned to move some assembly of Apple’s latest flagship from China to India faster than planned to diversify its supply chain, Bloomberg wrote.

India’s government approved incentives worth INR760 billion to aid the local electronics manufacturing sector in December 2021.