A “sold” sign is seen outside of a recently purchased home in Washington, U.S., July 7, 2022. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
NEW YORK, Dec 4 (Reuters) – U.S. home buyers are becoming more willing to purchase properties even as interest rates stay high, according to a study by Bank of America (BAC.N) published on Monday.
About 62% of respondents said they would wait for borrowing costs to fall before buying a house, according to 1,000 people polled in September. That is down from 85% six months earlier.
“We are beginning to see that lack of patience play out in the survey, which ultimately should lead to activity going forward,” Matt Vernon, head of consumer lending at Bank of America, told Reuters.
In a bid to tame inflation, the Federal Reserve has raised its policy rate a total of 5.25 percentage points in the last 20 months. The U.S. economy is showing signs of cooling, raising expectations that the rate hikes are likely done.
Nearly 80% of U.S. mortgages have an interest rate below 5%. That compares with average 30-year fixed mortgage rates that surged to 8% in October, the highest in more than two decades, which deterred buyers.
“There’s a clear desire for homeownership, but for some, it has become more challenging to achieve due to current market realities,” added Vernon.
Homeowners were willing to sell their existing homes and take on higher-interest mortgages if they found a property in a more affordable area or their dream home became available, the survey showed. They also sold their homes for career or family reasons or to seek a lower cost of living.
New-home sales dropped 5.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 679,000 units last month as mortgage rates squeezed out buyers.
Still, Americans’ pent-up demand for homes is expected to increase sales.
“We will be ready and we will be able to utilize our internal resources to meet the improved demand when it happens,” Vernon said.
The second-largest U.S. lender beat Wall Street estimates in its third quarter earnings and its consumer banking revenue increased 6% year-on-year to $10.5 billion.
Reporting by Nupur Anand in New York; Editing by Lananh Nguyen and Leslie Adler
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Yaskawa Electric robots are pictured at a trade show in Tokyo, Japan, November 29, 2023. REUTERS/Sam Nussey Acquire Licensing Rights
TOKYO, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Japanese robot maker Yaskawa Electric (6506.T) is considering investing around $200 million in the United States, its president said, with an eye to making its industrial robots there for the first time.
The investment would follow other manufacturers from allied nations moving to build capacity in the U.S. as Washington tries to boost high-end manufacturing and strengthen its control over supply chains amid trade tension with China.
While Japanese rival Fanuc (6954.T) is a leading maker of factory robots for the automotive industry in the U.S., Yaskawa hopes to ride a wave of automation in other sectors.
Manufacturing locally “gives our customers a sense of security and reliability,” President Masahiro Ogawa said in an interview.
The more than 100-year-old company has previously said it is looking to invest more in the U.S. The potential scope of the expansion is reported here for the first time.
Yaskawa is the world’s top maker of servo motors, a type of high-precision motor that is widely used in chipmaking tools.
The company, which already makes components in Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio, is considering expanding U.S. production to modules which incorporate its motors, Ogawa said.
The U.S. views securing access to cutting-edge semiconductors as a priority, with its leading chip equipment makers including Applied Materials (AMAT.O) and Lam Research (LRCX.O).
Foreign manufacturers building out capacity in the U.S. include automaker Toyota Motor (7203.T) and chipmakers TSMC (2330.TW) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS).
Yaskawa, whose shares have risen by about a third year-to-date giving it a market capitalisation of around $10 billion, is looking at possible subsidies to fund some of the cost of the expansion, Ogawa said.
Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Christopher Cushing
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Nov 1 (Reuters) – Trane Technologies reported third-quarter results that beat analysts’ estimates and raised profit and revenue forecasts for the full year, underpinned by strong demand for heating and air-conditioning systems for commercial buildings.
Global warming and rising levels of air pollution have led to an increase in demand for air conditioners and air purifiers.
The company said on Wednesday it now expects 2023 revenue growth between 10% and 11%, up from its prior outlook of 10% growth.
Trane Technologies increased its outlook for full-year adjusted profit to about $9.00 per share, from its previous forecast of $8.80 to $8.90 per share.
The company, which operates brands such as Thermo King and Frigoblock, benefited from increased demand for environment-friendly heating, cooling and ventilation systems for commercial buildings and refrigeration systems used in trucks.
“With bookings at an all-time high, we continue to see robust customer demand for our sustainable products and services, with particular strength across our commercial HVAC businesses globally,” CEO Dave Regnery said.
On an adjusted basis, Trane earned $2.79 per share, compared with estimates of $2.66, according to LSEG data.
The company posted net revenue of $4.88 billion, compared with estimates of $4.80 billion.
Reporting by Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta
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HONG KONG, Oct 17 (Reuters) – Country Garden’s (2007.HK) entire offshore debt will be deemed to be in default if China’s largest private property developer fails to make a $15 million coupon payment on Tuesday, the end of a 30-day grace period.
Non-payment of this tranche is set to trigger cross defaults in other bonds as is standard in bond contracts.
With nearly $11 billion of offshore bonds and $6 billion of offshore loans, a default by Country Garden would set the stage for one of China’s biggest corporate debt restructurings, as the country’s property sector crisis deepens and drags on economic growth.
“I think it’s a really high-profile and visceral reminder of just how bad things are for the developers, but the private-sector developers in particular,” said Chris Beddor, deputy director of China Research at Gavekal Dragonomics.
Lack of payment – which is expected after Country Garden warned last week about its inability to meet offshore debt obligations – would make the firm the latest in scores of Chinese developers who have defaulted.
Country Garden has also missed other offshore payments in the past few weeks, though those payments still have not seen their 30-day grace periods lapse.
One Country Garden bondholder, who declined to be identified, said there had been no payment as of noon on Tuesday.
Country Garden declined to comment.
In a fresh reminder of just how nervous investors have become about the crisis in the sector, another major property developer Gemdale (600383.SS) saw its stocks and bonds plunge on Tuesday after the resignation of its chairman.
Gemdale said the resignation was due to health reasons but investors, spooked by the sector’s broader problems, were taking no chances and rushed to sell its securities, analysts said.
Three of its bonds lost more than a fifth of their value before their trade was suspended and its stock tumbled 9%.
Moody’s downgraded Gemdale to B3 from Ba3 with a negative outlook on Tuesday, while Fitch downgraded state-backed China Vanke (000002.SZ) and state-owned Poly Developments and Holdings (600048.SS) to BBB from BBB+, citing higher leverage.
Fitch added China Vanke’s recent sales performance was weaker than expected, which could dampen cash generation and its deleveraging effort.
A view of the residential apartments in Country Garden’s Forest City development in Johor Bahru, Malaysia August 16, 2023. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
In mainland China, Evergrande Group (3333.HK), which is in the centre of the debt crisis, said on Monday it will hold a bondholder meeting on Wednesday and Thursday to approve a plan to delay the buyback date for a 2.1 billion yuan ($287.11 million) puttable bond by one year to Oct 2024.
It also proposed to delay again the interest payments accrued between Oct 2021 to April 2023 for the bond maturing in Oct 2025 by six months to Oct 2024.
WIDESPREAD DEFAULTS
So far, developers accounting for 40% of Chinese home sales have defaulted on their debt obligations since 2021, according to JPMorgan. CreditSights figures show Chinese developers have defaulted on more than $114.6 billion of $175 billion in dollar bonds outstanding since 2021.
As more developers move towards restructuring debt, their offshore creditors are expected to be offered less favourable terms amid a worsening outlook for the country’s real estate sector.
Country Garden has appointed Houlihan Lokey, China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and law firm Sidley Austin as advisers to examine its capital structure and liquidity position and formulate a ‘holistic’ solution.
Last week, printed circuit board maker Kingboard Holdings (0148.HK) became one of the first known listed companies to take legal action against Country Garden when a unit, which is owed HK$1.6 billion ($204 million), issued a statutory demand seeking repayment.
Chinese courts have ordered a freeze on 63.68 million yuan worth of shares in two units of Country Garden Services (6098.HK), a sister company of the embattled developer, until October 2026, according to company filings portal Tianyancha on Tuesday.
China has rolled out a flurry of support measures in recent months to revive the property market. The sector, which accounts for a quarter of the economy, has been in crisis since policymakers began cracking down on the industry’s high debt levels in 2021.
Analysts have said that the new measures are not enough to turn around the sector any time soon, but industry data out this week will be closely watched to gauge how much effect the steps have had so far.
Property sales by floor area are due out on Wednesday and nationwide prices of new homes for September will be released on Thursday.
($1 = 7.8203 Hong Kong dollars)
($1 = 7.3143 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reporting by Clare Jim, Xie Yu and Kane Wu; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Kim Coghill
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[1/2]A “For Rent, For Sale” sign is seen outside of a home in Washington, U.S., July 7, 2022. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Aug 22 (Reuters) – U.S. existing home sales dropped to a six month-low in July as home owners who are locked into cheap mortgages refrained from selling their properties with the cost of new mortgages for another home at the highest levels in decades.
That limited inventory, however, helped drive prices higher on a year-over-year basis for the first time since January.
Existing home sales fell 2.2% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.07 million units, the lowest level since January, from an unrevised 4.16 million units in June, the National Association of Realtors said on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast home sales would be little changed at 4.15 million units.
Sales fell in the Northeast, Midwest and South, but rose in the West, where home prices have fallen most sharply in the past year. All regions experienced annual sales declines.
Home resales, which account for a big chunk of U.S. housing sales, fell 16.6% on a year-on-year basis in July.
Home prices have bottomed out after being pressured by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes, but the persistent shortage of properties for sale could limit any rebound as many prospective buyers are forced out of the market.
Mortgage rates have surged again recently to the highest levels in decades, with the average rate on the popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage topping 7% in the latest week, according to mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac.
There were 1.11 million previously owned homes on the market last month, up 3.7% from a month earlier but down 14.6% from July 2022. At July’s sales pace, it would take 3.3 months to exhaust the current inventory of existing homes, up from 3.2 months a year ago.
A four-to-seven-month supply is viewed as a healthy balance between supply and demand. The median existing house price rose 1.9% from a year earlier to $406,700 in July, the fourth time it has topped $400,000.
“Two factors are driving current sales activity – inventory availability and mortgage rates,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist. “Unfortunately, both have been unfavorable to buyers.”
‘LOCK-IN EFFECT’
The dearth of existing houses on the market has helped bolster new home construction and sales in recent months. The NAR predicted that total resales in 2023 will fall 12.9% from 2022, at the same time that total new home sales in 2023 will increase by 12.3%.
The Commerce Department will report new home sales data for July on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters see a modest uptick in transactions. New home sales have outperformed existing home sales so far this year.
Properties typically remained on the market for 20 days in July, up from 14 days a year ago. Seventy-four percent of homes sold in July were on the market for less than a month. First-time buyers accounted for 30% of sales, up from 29% a year ago.
Sales fell the least for homes priced at more than $1 million as supply was less constrained relative to demand than for lower-value homes, Yun said.
All-cash sales accounted for 26% of transactions compared to 24% a year ago. Distressed sales, including foreclosures, represented 1% of transactions, essentially unchanged from June and the previous year.
Yun said it was “anyone’s guess” as to when mortgage rates might begin easing, and some economists don’t expect much relief until 2024.
“Forecasting mortgage rates in the near term is very difficult, but it’s our expectation that mortgage rates will begin to normalize next year,” said Matthew Walsh, an economist at Moody’s who focuses on the housing market.
That could encourage some home owners to resell and look for more new housing, he said, but it could be a while before current rates can compete with the mortgages that the majority of existing home owners secured before interest rates climbed.
“We expect that lock-in-effect will remain for quite some time,” Walsh said.
Reporting by Safiyah Riddle; Editing by Paul Simao
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WEST COLUMBIA, South Carolina July 6 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden traveled to South Carolina to tout a new $60 million solar investment as the latest example that he is rebuilding the U.S. manufacturing industry.
Biden and top administration officials are fanning across the country to champion how the administration’s economic policy – dubbed by them “Bidenomics” – is reshaping the country. US voters continue to question the strength of the economy, and Biden’s leadership, amid record employment and slowing inflation.
The investment by Enphase Energy Inc (ENPH.O) is part of some $500 billion in private investment that has boosted U.S. manufacturing since he became president, Biden said.
“I’m not here to declare victory on the economy. I’m here to say we have a plan to turn it around quickly,” Biden said.
The investment by Enphase will create some 1,800 new U.S. jobs, including 600 in South Carolina, between Enphase and its partner, multinational manufacturing giant Flex Ltd, according to the White House.
Enphase intends to open up six new manufacturing lines, bolstering clean-energy supply chains and helping power as many as 1 million homes per year with solar energy.
Biden administration officials are stressing that Republicans voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, which created hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives to promote green energy projects. Yet, officials note, that these same Republicans applaud local investments spurred by the legislation.
[1/6]U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the U.S. economy and his administration’s effort to revive American manufacturing, during his visit in Flex LTD, in West Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. July 6, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
One project will soon break ground in the district of Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, an unrelenting Biden critic who recently sought to impeach the president.
“I’ll be there for the groundbreaking,” Biden said.
Biden toured a Flex facility in West Columbia, South Carolina that will make products for Enphase at the plant.
Enphase sells microinverters and batteries for solar arrays but its products are manufactured at factories in China, Mexico and India.
Thursday’s announcement will mark Enphase’s first US-based contract manufacturing facility.
Raghu Belur, co-founder and inventor, Enphase Energy, showed Biden a table of the company’s products and said his company has built millions of them over the years, but all outside the U.S.
“Thanks to your leadership, we are building them in the U.S. now,” Belur said.
Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Heather Timmons and Alistair Bell
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[1/2]An IndiGo Airlines Airbus A320 aircraft is pictured parked at a gate at Mumbai’s Chhatrapathi Shivaji International Airport February 3, 2013. Picture taken February 3, 2013. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash/File Photo
BENGALURU, June 20 (Reuters) – IndiGo (INGL.NS), India’s largest airline, on Monday placed an order for 500 Airbus (AIR.PA) narrowbody jets, the largest ever plane deal by number of aircraft, overtaking an earlier deal by rival Air India that was firmed up on Tuesday.
Following are the biggest plane deals, by number of aircraft.
INDIGO – 500 JETS – 2023
IndiGo on Monday agreed to buy 500 single-aisle jets from Airbus, making it the single largest order of any aircraft. The order is expected to include the popular A320neo family of planes including the longer range A321XLRs which will help expand its network into Europe and deeper into Southeast Asia.
The airline hopes to take deliveries of the jets from 2030 to 2035.
AIR INDIA – 470 JETS – 2023
Air India on Tuesday finalised an order for 470 jetliners that includes 250 planes from Airbus and 220 from Boeing, with options for buying 70 more from the U.S. planemaker.
The Tata-owned airline’s order comprises 400 narrowbody and 70 widebody planes. Air India is expected to take delivery of the first few widebody Airbus A350 jets by the end of the year.
AMERICAN AIRLINES – 460 JETS – 2011
American Airlines (AAL.O) in 2011 placed orders with Airbus and Boeing for a total of 460 airliners.
The airline placed an initial order for 260 Airbus A320 aircraft with an option to buy an additional 365 for a possible total order of 625. The airline also placed an initial order with Boeing for 200 of its 737-family of aircraft, with options to buy an additional 100.
INDIGO PARTNERS – 430 JETS – 2017
U.S. private equity firm Indigo Partners in 2017 placed an order for 430 Airbus A320neo jets for the four carriers in which airline pioneer Bill Franke’s investment firm has a stake – U.S.-based Frontier Airlines, Mexico’s Volaris, Chilean carrier JetSmart and Hungary’s Wizz.
INDIGO – 300 JETS – 2019
IndiGo in 2019 placed an order for 300 of Airbus’s A320neo family of planes.
INDIGO PARTNERS – 255 JETS – 2021
Franke’s Indigo Partners in 2021 placed an order for 255 Airbus A321neo jets in the first major fleet purchase since COVID-19, betting on a quick snapback in tourist travel after the pandemic.
INDIGO – 250 JETS – 2015
India’s biggest airline in 2015 finalised an order for 250 Airbus A320neo aircraft.
UNITED AIRLINES – 200 JETS – 2022
United Airlines (UAL.O) in December said it was ordering 100 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 100 737 MAXs in a push for post-pandemic growth, replacing older, less-efficient aircraft.
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BENGALURU, May 31 (Reuters) – U.S. home prices will decline less than previously expected this year before stagnating in 2024, despite widespread expectations interest rates will remain higher for longer, according to property analysts polled by Reuters.
Even though the U.S. Federal Reserve has embarked on its most aggressive tightening cycle in four decades, average home prices have fallen just over 5% from their recent peaks, barely a dent compared to the 45% rise during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That resilience in one of the most interest-rate sensitive sectors of the economy is largely down to the stubbornly-tight supply of homes, which was not expected to ease for at least the next six months.
Home prices, which resumed their rise in March after eight months of declines, will fall 2.8% this calendar year on average, a May 15-30 poll of 30 property analysts showed. That is less than the 4.5% drop predicted in March.
Average house prices as measured by the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas were forecast to stagnate next year.
The predicted 9% peak to trough fall is less than one-third of the slump during the 2007-2008 global financial crisis, leaving prices well out of reach for aspiring homeowners.
“Looking ahead, we think there is scope for prices to fall a little further. Affordability is still stretched and a weakening economy will weigh on homebuyer sentiment,” said Sam Hall, property economist at consultancy Capital Economics.
“Given supply is likely to stay tight, there is a risk house prices may not fall as much as we previously expected.”
Elevated house prices along with high consumer inflation suggests the Fed, which has raised its key rate from near-zero in early 2022 to 5.00-5.25%, will at least hold until end-2023, keeping upward pressure on mortgage rates.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate, currently around 6.7%, was expected to average 6.2% in 2023. It is forecast to slip to 5.5% in 2024 on expectations the Fed will be cutting rates then.
Those high mortgage rates are restricting housing supply, which puts upward pressure on prices, as well as demand.
“Despite mortgage rates more than doubling since 2021, property owners haven’t been forced to sell because most have a job, and many are reluctant to list because they have a sweet deal on a long-term mortgage,” said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.
Existing home sales are currently running at an annualised rate of 4.28 million units – significantly lower than a peak of 6.56 million in January 2021 – and are forecast to remain around that rate.
Just over 70% of respondents, 16 of 22, said a significant downturn was more likely than a rebound for home prices during the remainder of the year.
“If the Fed is forced to tighten policy further to contain inflation, the market could resume a downward slide,” added BMO’s Guatieri.
(For other stories from the Reuters quarterly housing market polls:)
Reporting by Indradip Ghosh and Prerana Bhat; Polling by Aditi Verma and Maneesh Kumar; Editing by Jonathan Cable, Ross Finley and Sharon Singleton
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WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Tuesday the South Korean-U.S. alliance must “leap into a new phase” to jointly overcome complex crises, including slowing economic growth, technology competition with strategic rivals and climate change.
Speaking a day before a Washington summit with President Joe Biden, Yoon told an event hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce the bilateral security alliance should “evolve into a supply chain and future-oriented, innovative-technology alliance.”
He said the two countries’ economies had been facing new challenges and the economic slowdown was unsettling the investment environment.
“Competition for technological hegemony, energy issues and climate crises are casting more uncertainties on business activity day by day,” Yoon said.
Yoon said that from a joint venture involving a South Korean and a U.S. firm in 1965, South Korea had risen to become the global leader in memory semiconductor production, accounting for 60% of global market share.
“This cooperation should extend beyond semiconductors to future emerging technologies such as AI, Quantum, SMR (Small Modular Reactors) and more,” Yoon said.
Core technologies from the United States and South Korea’s advanced manufacturing capabilities would “create enormous synergies that will benefit both countries,” he said.
Yoon said he hoped that during his visit the countries would reaffirm their status as true allies and advanced technology partners to create innovative business opportunities.
“Our bilateral investments need to be expanded both quantitatively and qualitatively, to build more stable and resilient supply chains.”
He said the two nations were the ideal partners for “friend-shoring” – a reference to a U.S.-led process of reducing dependence on China for key goods and materials although he made no mention of China by name.
Yoon said his government was working to create a fair and predictable market environment, offer significant tax credits and improve regulations to facilitate bold investments by U.S. companies.
“The Republic of Korea and the United States have been painting a wonderful rough sketch together for the past 70 years,” he said. “The next 70 years together will be a journey of filling the rough sketch with well-matched colors.”
INVESTMENT DEALS
Yoon has pledged to serve as the country’s “No. 1 salesman“, making business diplomacy a key element of his overseas trips.
Yoon’s senior economic secretary, Choi Sang-mok, said Seoul has secured a total of $5.9 billion in investment from eight U.S. firms so far, including $2.5 billion from media giant Netflix (NFLX.O) and $1.5 billion from industrial firm Corning Inc (GLW.N).
Six other tech companies which attended the event have together pledged $1.9 billion, including Air Products and Chemicals Inc (APD.N), Plug Power Inc (PLUG.O), ON Semiconductor Corp (ON.O), Greene Tweed & Co Inc, Purecycle Technologies Inc and EMP Belstar.
“Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the alliance, we were able to see at a glance that an advanced supply chain and technology alliance between the two countries was already being strengthened and established,” Choi told a briefing.
Yoon is accompanied by more than 120 executives from South Korea’s biggest companies, including Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung, both of whom attended the event.
Earlier on Tuesday, General Motors Co (GM.N) and Samsung SDI (006400.KS) announced plans to invest more than $3 billion to jointly build an electric car battery plant in the U.S.
Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) also said it has finalised a $5 billion electric vehicle battery joint venture in the U.S. with SK On, a battery unit of SK Innovation Co Ltd (096770.KS)
Reporting by David Lawder, David Shephardson, David Brunnstrom and Ismail Shakil
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NEW DELHI, April 20 (Reuters) – U.S. tech giant Apple <AAPL.O> could double or triple investments in India, along with exports, over the next few years, a minister said, as the company opened a second store in the world’s biggest smartphone market after China.
Apple mainly assembles iPhones in India through Taiwan contract manufacturers but plans to expand into iPads and AirPods, as it looks to cut reliance on China.
Its iPhones made up more than half of total smartphones worth about $9 billion exported from India between April 2022 and February, data from the India Cellular and Electronics Association shows.
“I am very confident that this Apple-India partnership has a lot of headroom for investments, growth, exports and jobs – doubling and tripling over coming years,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the deputy minister for information technology, told Reuters.
His comments came after a meeting on Wednesday with Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook in the capital, New Delhi.
Cook, who also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Apple was “committed to growing and investing across the country”.
He inaugurated an Apple store in New Delhi on Thursday two days after opening its first outlet in Mumbai, the commercial capital.
“We’ve come here only to see Tim Cook,” said Manika Mehta, 32, an Android phone user who queued at the Delhi store.
About 500 people had gathered for Cook’s brief appearance, in which he spoke with fans and took selfies, as in Mumbai.
“My heart was skipping a beat,” said Reeti Sahai, 45, after taking a selfie. “I’m an Apple addict. I’m drawn to Tim Cook, seeing the man he is and the journey.”
Cook’s visit has drawn extensive media coverage and he has been feted like a Bollywood star, with some people trying to touch his feet in a traditional gesture of respect, while others asked for his autograph.
Apple has previously faced hurdles in opening physical retail stores in the South Asian nation, but its products have been available on e-commerce websites, while its online store opened in 2020.
The new stores open as Indian consumers increasingly look to upgrade devices to glitzier models with richer feature sets, from budget versions that typically cost less than $120.
Still, Apple’s pricey phones are affordable for only a few in India, where it has a market share of just 3%.
Apple has been trying to make India a bigger manufacturing base. Its products, including iPhones, are being assembled in India by contract electronics makers Foxconn (2317.TW), Wistron Corp (3231.TW) and Pegatron Corp (4938.TW).
In January, India’s trade minister said Apple wanted the country to account for up to 25% of its production versus about 5% to 7% now.
Reporting By Krishna N. Das; Editing by Jacqueline Wong
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