Apple’s plans of hitting it big in India hit another snag following reports that the Indian government has rejected the Cupertino company’s plan to sell refurbished iPhones in the country.
The latest development comes at the heels of a previous report where Apple would have to sell at least 30% of locally outsourced good before they would be allowed to open the planned three retail outlets in India.
At that time, Apple was hoping to gain exemption but India’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion concluded that the Cupertino company does not fall under the “cutting-edge technology” category.
And now the latest blackeye comes in the form of selling refurbished iPhone models, which was revealed through a press conference held by Nirmala Sitharaman, the country’s minister of commerce and industry via Live Mint.
“We are not in favour of any company selling used phones in the country, however certified they may be,” said Sitharaman at the press conference.
The latest word somehow conflicts with the whole rationale of Apple CEO Tim Cook who was planning to make phones available in India at an affordable price.
“First of all, we would never ‘dump’ anything; this in virtually all countries in the world we have a process by which a phone that’s been used by the first owner or is taken back and made to be new, if you will, and a warranty is placed on that, just like a warranty for a new phone. And it’s sold for a more affordable price and that happens in several countries,” said Cook in a previous statement.
It will be interesting to see how Cook and Apple will deal with these blows as they try to find ways to reach a promising customer base. Sales in India crossed the $1 billion mark last year, the first time such had happened.
At the moment, Apple sells products through exclusive reselling arrangements with chains such as Imagine and iStore. Despite an alarming drop in the first quarterly revenue in 13 years last month, its sales performance in India was singled out as the only bright spot, growing 56%.
