Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has assured to double jobs at the company’s manufacturing facilities in the coming years. The company has generated one lakh jobs in the last 24 months.
Cook met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi; Electronics and Information Technology Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, on Wednesday.
Sources close to the meetings told businessline that Cook reaffirmed his commitment to India, and added that Apple was happy with the support extended to industry, and also acknowledged the government’s role and shared company’s business plans.
In a tweet also, he said: “Thank you Prime Minister @narendramodi for the warm welcome. We share your vision of the positive impact technology can make on India’s future — from education and developers to manufacturing and the environment, we’re committed to growing and investing across the country.”
Responding to his tweet, Modi responded saying: “An absolute delight to meet you, @tim_cook! Glad to exchange views on diverse topics and highlight the tech-powered transformations taking place in India.”
On Tuesday, businessline had reported that Cook will meet the Prime Minister and the Electronics and IT Ministers here on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, during his meeting with Vaishnaw, Cook made a few requests, including on policy stability, support for component ecosystem and support in skilling under the Gati Shakti University model.
He also added that App Accelerator in Bengaluru could be utilised for the app developer ecosystem, in which developers can be trained and they can find better opportunity for more avenues in future.
Also read: Tim Cook’s Delhi sojourn: Walking the bylanes of Lodhi Art District to admiring India’s crafts
Tweeting about his meeting with Cook, Vaishnaw said: “…Discussed deepening Apple’s engagement in India across manufacturing, electronics exports, app economy, skilling, sustainability and job creation especially for women. Jointly charting a long-term and strong relationship.”
Chandrasekhar also tweeted saying: “It was a delight to meet @tim_cook CEO, @Apple and his team to engage on Apple’s strategic and long-term partnership with and in India’s digital journey. We discussed deepening and broadening manufacturing, exports, skilling of youth, expanding app n innovation economy and job creation.”
