A team from US-based technology major Apple spelt out in detail, to an inter-ministerial team of officials in New Delhi, the company’s plans for manufacturing mobile phones in the country subject to some concessions from the government.

The inter-ministerial team, led by Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), noted down submissions made by Apple on the desired concessions in their respective departments, a government official told BusinessLine after the meeting on Wednesday.

“The Apple team asked for a number of sops including tax concessions, relaxation from conditions such as labelling requirements as well as exemption from the mandatory domestic sourcing norm for one-third of inputs used,” the official said.

Officials attending the meeting are now expected to discuss the demands pertaining to their Ministries and Departments internally and then get back, the official added.

On Tuesday, Priya Balasubramaniam, VP Global Operations, Apple, met Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to set the tone for the next day’s meeting. Balasubramaniam was also part of the Apple team that gave its presentation to officials on Wednesday.

Apple’s application for exemption from compulsory 30 per cent domestic sourcing norms was rejected by the Finance Ministry last year.

Fresh application However, after the government tweaked FDI rules, the company has applied afresh seeking concessions.

While earlier, companies that qualified as manufacturing products with “cutting-edge’’ technology qualified for a blanket exemption from the domestic sourcing rule, under the revised rules the relaxation is available for only three years. Currently, the company sells its products in India through distributors such as Redington, Ingram Micro, Bettel and Rashi Peripherals.

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