Apple plant in India to benefit retail sector: Google official

Bengaluru: Batting for Apple's plant in the country, a Google India executive today said overall smartphone industry would grow further if the iPhone maker sets up facility here and bring more India-focused prodcuts.

"If Apple sets up a plant in India and are able to bring more products made for India, they might grow overall industry for smart phones, which will be good for overall retail," Google India Industry Director Nitin Bawankule told PTI on the sidelines of release of a report 'Digital Retail 2020' by Google and A T Kearney here.

Bawankule was replying to a question on how much of business sense does it make for retailers and e-commerce players in India if Apple sets up a plant in India.

"Now, whether it will impact online or offline it doesn't matter, I think, but if Apple decides to set up one such plant, it's great for the industry," he added.

The US-based giant plans to set up single-brand retail stores in India and has sought exemption from local sourcing norms on the ground that it makes state-of-the-art and cutting-edge technology products for which domestic sourcing is not possible. Recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited India to push for India retail plans.

He met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed the "possibilities of manufacturing" and tapping the young talent pool in the country. The telecom and retail industry are closely following Apple's foray into the Indian market to understand how much business sense it will make for telecom, retail and ecommerce players in India, if Apple sets up an iPhone plant in India.

The report projects that e-tailing will become a substantial channel for the organised retail sector, contributing as much as 25 per cent of the total organised retail sales in by 2020 and will reach USD 60 billion in gross merchandising value, Bawankule said.

The report predicts that the total number of online shoppers will grow to 175 million by 2020 and one third of customers will drive two third of total online shopping spends, he said.

As per the report, value added service will be a key differentiator and over 90 per cent of the online buyers will be willing to pay for premium value added services, Bawankule said.

Over 46 per cent of online buyers said that they will be willing to pay extra charges for faster delivery and 37 per cent for hassle-free return and 35 per cent were willing to pay more for extended warranty, he said.