Apple plans to set up Rs 150 crore innovation centre in Hyderabad

Mumbai: Over the past couple of years, numerous tech giants have heavily invested in India to enhance their operations and deepen their roots in the country. Now Apple will be following the footsteps of Google and Microsoft, as the company is planning to set up its first technology development centre in Hyderabad.

According to a ZDNet report, the new centre will be built on a massive 2,50,000 sqare feet of land in the real estate firm Tishman Speyer's WaveRock facility at Hyderabad's IT corridor.

The tech centre will share space with top IT companies such as Infosys, Wipro, Microsoft, and Cognizant in the IT corridor.

The report further indicates that the total cost of the project will cost the California-based company a whopping $25 million (Rs 150 crore). If the technology development centre sees the light of the day, it is speculated to create approximately 4,500 jobs for locals.

Apple plans to launch the innovation centre in June and full-fledged operations will start by the end of this year. Additionally, it plans to develop India-centric maps and make them available on its iPhones and Mac devices.

Earlier Apple had a technology innovation centre in Bangalore, however, the facility closed down almost a decade ago due to poor quality services. Interestingly, Apple has not outsourced any of its core technology operations outside United States, as per the report.

The decision to open an innovation facility will be a significant decision by the company, as it will help in providing better customer services and quicker product supply, which will help them make deeper inroads in India.

Considering the fact that Google and Microsoft have already announced their plans to expand in India, Apple has a lot of catching up to do.

Also, the fact that India is one of the biggest consumers of Apple products after the US is a major factor for them to improve their ‘sluggish’ services in the country.