The seemingly endless battle between Apple India and the India government has taken yet another turn. And this time, it’s for the worse.
In a fresh wave of bad news, the Indian government has rejected most of the tax exemptions requested by Apple India.
The government says NO to Apple
In order to set up manufacturing plants for iPhone, Apple India had asked the government for a few tax relaxations. These would have helped Apple manufacture the iPhones at a lower cost, thus driving down the prices of their top product. NDTV reports —
“Apple India has sought concessions including duty exemption on manufacturing and repair units, components, capital equipment and consumables for smartphone manufacturing and service/repair for a period of 15 years.”
After mutiple rounds of discussion, it looked Apple might get its wish after all. However, after Wednesday’s session in the Rajya Sabha, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government has said no to “most of the demand” made by Apple India.
The government’s reasons
The government is very clear as to why it has rejected the demands. They said they didn’t want to be “partial to single company” by providing special previliges to one single manufacturer. In spirit of the free market, the government wants to keep the playing field level. Therefore, it would be wrong to let Apple India off the hook when it came to paying taxes.
The growth story of Apple in India keeps hitting road-blocks. Tim Cook might not be a superstitious man, but after so much of trouble, I won’t be surprised if he turns to numerology or astrology.