"Apple is coming here because it sees a lucrative market, this is not a favour being done to India." Competitors such as South Korea's Samsung Electronics and China's Xiaomi have already set up manufacturing in the country. Despite the reluctance of some officials, Modi could intervene to get the Apple project back on schedule. Currently, Indian rules restrict such imports to phones that are no older than three years. Apple asked for the government's help in quickly processing a request for a ruling from Indian tax authorities on transfer pricing agreements between its affiliates.

Source: The Star January 19, 2017 04:20 UTC