Apple continuously expanding business operations in India: Goyal

Rome: US-based iPhone maker Apple is continuously expanding its operations in India and the government is in regular touch with the company to support its business, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has said.

He said that the electronics industry works like this- first they put a basic set up and then they keep sourcing different components to add to their ecosystem.

"Apple is continuously expanding their operations in India... We are in regular touch with Apple, and MeITY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) is also in touch with them... We hand-hold them because, in a way, the eyes of the whole world are fixed on Apple," he said when asked about Apple's plan to start a full-fledged manufacturing unit in India.

The company gets iPhones manufactured by electronics giants -- Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron in India.

The minister has earlier stated that India's exports of mobile and electronics goods have doubled in the last year.

"Apple itself has exported about USD 5 billion worth of goods last year from India and they are planning to have 25 per cent of their global production coming out of India in the next 4 or 5 years," he said.