A senior Indian government official stated this week that India does not anticipate any significant disruption to Foxconn’s operations in the country, even after the iPhone assembler recently ordered some Chinese employees to return home. S. Krishnan, secretary of India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, told reporters in Taipei that “operations did not really suffer significantly,” despite some Chinese workers having to leave.
Krishnan explained that “Foxconn has been in their plant near Chennai for the last five years and a new plant is coming up near Bengaluru. So they were able to manage with some of the workers there, some people from Taiwan, and some people from the United States.” This was in response to a Bloomberg News report from July that stated Foxconn had asked hundreds of its engineers and technicians from mainland China to return home from its Indian facilities.
Foxconn and its client, Apple, have been working to increase iPhone production in India to reduce the potential impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs on Chinese goods, which are currently on hold while trade negotiations between Beijing and Washington continue. The majority of iPhones Foxconn assembles for Apple are made in China.
Krishnan did not specify why the Chinese employees were asked to return home. Foxconn declined to comment on the matter, and Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tensions between India and China have been high since a 2020 military clash on their disputed Himalayan border. In response, India has restricted Chinese investments, banned numerous popular Chinese apps, and halted air travel routes between the two countries.
However, relations have gradually improved in recent months. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his first visit to China in seven years. “Our understanding is that Foxconn stands committed to see through all the investments in India… their expansion in India has been very significant,” Krishnan affirmed.
