PM Modi’s demonetization drive may be raising hell for the common man, but there’s one group that is extremely pleased with the whole fiasco. And they’re sitting half way across the globe in Apple’s offices at 1, Infinite Loop.
Post 8th November, many people started buying high-value goods in a hurry to dispense of their “hard-earned” cash that were unfortunately deemed illegal thanks to demonetization. Of course, the shiny new iPhone retailing at upwards of 60,000 rupees made it to the list of desirables!
What’s more, with fears running high, people were ready to pay a premium to those helping them buy a new iPhone with old currency. In places like Delhi and Chandigarh, they paid as much as 30% over the price of the phone. Essentially, people are paying up to Rs 1 Lakh for a 70 thousand iPhone!
The boost in sales of iPhones has been nothing short of staggering. An estimate by the Huffington Post says that as many as 1 lakh iPhones were sold within the first 72 hours of the announcement!
The rush to offload cancelled currency notes by buying these expensive handsets has resulted in Apple being the only phone maker to meet sales target in November. Its sales during the month are estimated to have grown by 20-30% while handset sales, as a whole, are down compared with the year-ago period.
It is estimated that smartphones sales will shrink in the October-December quarter in India because of the cash crunch as many phone sales, both online or offline, were transacted in cash.
