
Apple has started production of iPhone SE in India - artsandsci
https://9to5mac.com/2017/05/17/iphone-made-in-india-2/
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shubhamjain
> Apple was effectively forced into setting up domestic manufacturing in order
> to launch Indian retail stores, as India laws state that companies wanting a
> retail presence must source at least 30% of their goods locally.

In comparison to China, it doesn't seem India offers significant incentives to
setup manufacturing except tapping into a huge market. What India has started
doing right in last few years, China has been doing for more than two decades
with no signs of slowing down. If you need a hint about the scale of China's
manufacturing capabilities, you should read about the Fidget Spinner Gold Rush
[1]. Production literally shot up overnight to cope up with the burgeoning
demand. It's impossible to imagine this ever happening in India.

[1]: [https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/fidget-spinner-
wh...](https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/fidget-spinner-wholesale-
economics)

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shas3
Jagadish Bhagwati of Columbia has a ton to say about how India screwed up on
trade. Basically there are many trade-unfriendly laws dating back to 60s and
70s which are hard and slow to undo because they have to be done via
parliamentary procedures (kinda how Congressional gridlock makes lawmaking
slow in the US). Here's a good interview of his with Russ Roberts on Econtalk:
[http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2013/08/bhagwati_on_ind.htm...](http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2013/08/bhagwati_on_ind.html)

Edit: this is in contrast to China where laws are made by diktats.

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valarauca1

         where laws are made by diktats
    

Diktats implies the popular consent of the people isn't taken into the
consideration by the CCP when forming policy. This is a very western-liberal-
repulic centric view point and is flawed. The CCP actively considers _what_ is
wanted and _how_ to achieve it. Simply because people do not vote doesn't mean
they aren't considered.

Citation:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_line)

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dennyabraham
I keep hearing that protectionism doesn't benefit the people of a country, but
China and now this feel like counterexamples. Am I misreading?

~~~
msoad
Actually this is the perfect example of why protectionism doesn't work.

Manufacturing is such an iconic aspect of the economy that every government or
policy maker loves to talk about it and show progress in it. India has
unnecessary incentives put in place for manufacturing and Apple is taking
advantage of it. But overall it's a bad deal for India.

~~~
dexterp
I'm not seeing how this is a bad deal for India. India get's more factories
setting up shop there to produce products; more jobs, more money staying in
the country.

~~~
accountyaccount
If it's not sustainable for their economy those companies will pick up and
move once the market demands higher wages and better worker protections (or
just can't afford the subsidies anymore).

The clothing industry does this all the time — they'll build up a local
economy until it's too expensive, and then move on to the next desperate area.

If you're trying to be appealing to industry by racing to the bottom you're
essentially fighting an extended battle for last place.

~~~
improbable22
But protectionism doesn't have to be "a battle for last place". It often is, I
agree, but is also one of the levers used by Korea (etc.) to develop. The book
which changed my mind about this, which I highly recommend, is Joe Studwell,
"How Asia Works",
[https://howasiaworks.wordpress.com](https://howasiaworks.wordpress.com) .

India, unfortunately, has a long record of getting this exactly wrong.

~~~
accountyaccount
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out.

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cwyers
[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-
and...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-
squeezed-middle-class.html)?

> Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only
> option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese
> factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due
> on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute,
> forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant
> near midnight.

> A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories,
> according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of
> tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift
> fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was
> producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.

> “The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” the executive said. “There’s no
> American plant that can match that.”

~~~
e40
Yes, it is amazing what near-slave labor can achieve, and how glowingly
executives will feel about their work.

~~~
flinty
[http://web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi-
bin/wordpr...](http://web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi-
bin/wordpress/timeline/) Another notch in the history of Chinese/foreign labor
doing great things to improve american lives :)

>Winter 1866-1867: One of the harshest winters in history, featuring 44 storms
and averaging 18 feet of snow at the summit. Despite this, the Chinese workers
continued work on the tunnels. The Tunnel 6 labor force by this time is almost
completely made up of Chinese. Avalanches pose particular danger, as
demonstrated at Strong’s Canyon (Tunnels 11 and 12) known as Camp 4, which
included 2 gangs of Chinese and a gang of culvert men.[16]

~~~
throwaway32189
China may have earned its Silver back in a few more decades, but India has a
long way to go. Then again, may be not - everything is paper these days.

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tmsldd
> it doesn't seem India offers significant incentives to setup manufacturing..

It might change once local industry warms up attracting the supply chain..
also local software companies/developers will respond to the stimulus.. India
has all ingredients to create a great ecosystem.

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rodionos
Great news overall. The more diversified the manufacturing base is, the better
it is for supply management. I was surprised to learn how concentrated disk
manufacturing was when floods in Thailand disrupted global disk market
overnight.

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perseusprime11
It would be good to know how many iPhones they produced instead of saying a
small batch.

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mankash666
Hacker news audience is clearly America centric! H1-B = evil because local
jobs matter. But when India or any other country adopts the same philosophy of
boosting local jobs, suddenly they're protectionists. Hypocrisy much?!

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milankragujevic
Offtopic, but why does this page have no downvote buttons anywhere?

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grzm
If I understand your question correctly, submissions have up-vote and flag.
They don't have down-vote.

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milankragujevic
i meant the comments

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grzm
Comments older than 24 hours cannot be down-voted. Most of the comments on
this submission are older than that.

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milankragujevic
I cannot downvote your comment, either.
[http://i.imgur.com/FKKP9bx.png](http://i.imgur.com/FKKP9bx.png)

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grzm
You can't downvote responses to your comments.

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milankragujevic
ah. that clears it up.

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mtgx
But somehow Apple needs an "incentive" like a tax holiday to start
manufacturing stuff in the US? Yeah, not buying it.

