Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that US technology major Apple’s long-term plans for India were unlikely to be affected by the decision of the Finance Ministry not to waive the 30 per cent local sourcing norm for the company to open its own stores in the country.

“The Apple CEO, during his recent visit to India, had said that the company was here for the next 1,000 years,” the Minister said, adding that long-term plans of such a big company would not be affected by small issues.

Prasad was answering a question on reports that Apple had threatened to exit India because of the Finance Ministry’s decision not to give it a local sourcing waiver.

An email sent to Apple by BusinessLine remained unanswered.

Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, whose Ministry had proposed a waiver for Apple from the local sourcing clause on the ground that it met the criteria of cutting-edge technology specified in the FDI policy, said on Monday that she will take up Apple’s case with the Finance Ministry.

While the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) had proposed to the Commerce & Industry Ministry that specific guidelines should be framed to determine what qualifies as cutting-edge technology for eligibility for local sourcing waiver, Sitharaman said that her Ministry had not decided on the matter and would discuss it with the Finance Ministry.

“A decision on the matter is not likely before Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is in Japan, returns,” a government official told BusinessLine .

There is already a panel in place, headed by Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion Secretary Ramesh Abhishek, for looking into requests for waiver from local sourcing conditions from foreign companies which claim to be retailing high-end products.

This panel had recommended a waiver for Apple which was subsequently turned down by the Finance Ministry.

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