Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday discussed possibilities of manufacturing and retailing of Apple products in India. Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday discussed possibilities of manufacturing and retailing of Apple products in India. Mr Cook shared Apple Inc’s future plans for India with the Prime Minister.The Apple CEO appreciated the breadth of young talent in India, and said youth have significant skills which Apple would like to tap. He mentioned the immense potential for “app-development” that exists in the country. He elaborated on the Map Development Centre that Apple Inc is setting up in Hyderabad. He also appreciated the Prime Minister’s initiatives in “ease of doing business”. The Modi government has been encouraging global mobile handsets manufacturers to set up plants in India as part of the “Make-in-India” programme. On its part, Apple has been keen to open its stores in India and also sell used phones in India as its growth is slowing down in other parts of the world where markets are maturing. However, the Indian government has not been keen to allow Apple to sell used phones in India as some quarters see it as dumping of e-waste in the country.During the meet, Mr Cook also launched an updated version of the “Narendra Modi mobile app”.According to a statement by the PMO, Mr Cook congratulated Mr Modi on the recent election results. He spoke about his visit to different parts of the country, and his meetings with people, including youth, business leaders China instant heating electric tap Manufacturers and actors. In particular, he mentioned his visit to the Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai, and watching a cricket match. Mr Modi said that in India, “seeing is believing”, adding that these experiences would definitely steer Mr Cook’s business decisions. Mr Cook also appreciated the PM’s initiatives for renewable energy. He said Apple runs on 93 per cent renewable energy, and spoke of plans to move Apple’s entire supply chain to the renewable energy.

Both Mr Cook and the Prime Minister shared some unique stories of entrepreneurship that they had come across in app-development and renewable energy,” said the statement from the PMO.The Prime Minister explained his Digital India initiative, and identified three key objectives of Digital India as e-education, health and increasing farmer incomes. He sought support from Apple in furthering these objectives. Issues regarding cyber-security and data encryption also came up for discussion. The Prime Minister encouraged Mr Cook to help the global community cope with the challenges of cyber-crime.