New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi could meet Apple CEO Tim Cook during the latter’s likely visit to India this week, sources said.
The CEO is also likely to meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Commerce and Industry Minster Nirmala Sitharaman during the visit, they said.
Cook is currently in China where he announced a $1 billion investment in Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing and could fly down to India on Tuesday. This will be his first visit to India after becoming the head of the U.S. technology giant, one of the two familiar sources said.
Cook is expected to put several issues on the table during his expected meeting with Indian leaders, including the ban on the sale of refurbished iPhones.
Another issue that could come up for discussions is that of encryption on Apple phones and the security implications.
However, Apple has not confirmed the reports of its CEO’s visit to India.
Earlier, Apple Inc. was all set to introduce its globally famed retail stores in India, the Cupertino giant's CEO has said. The announcement of sorts came at a townhall with the company's executives.
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According to a report in 9to5mac, Cook said that India will act as the best support to Apple`s growth for the next decade. As per the news report, Cook observed that “4G LTE networks are not in every emerging market, and this gives Apple the opportunity to push its latest devices to regions like India".
In the days following Apple's Q1 earnings announcements, CEO Cook and other top executives held a town hall meeting at the company's Infinite Loop headquarters to make new announcements.
Cook also took questions from the audience in an apparent attempt to address the concerns related to the company`s iPhone dependence, switching from apple to Android population in India as well as the launch of cheaper iPhones in emerging markets like India to expand the company's customer base.
Earlier in the month of February, during its first-quarter earnings call, CEO Cook said that Apple will continue to invest in India despite global slowdown and currency fluctuations.
"During hard times like now, it provides an opportunity to invest in newer markets such as India where there are long-term prospects," he had said.
