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Apple may soon be calling on India for more technical support.
According to published reports in India, Apple may be considering increasing its outsourcing business with India’s major information technology firms.
India’s Economic Times reports that Apple CIO Niall O’Connor visited Bangalore in January, meeting with top executives at the leading information technology outsourcing firms Infosys and Wipro between January 29 and 31. Both the companies declined to comment.
Apple outsources certain software application development and maintenance work worth about $100 million to Indian companies, about a fifth of its total global outsourcing spending, according to the Economic Times. Apple is now reportedly looking to quadruple the amount it spends in India.
Apple already contributes around $50 million to Infosys’ annual business. Wipro got its start working with Apple a few years ago testing software applications, is also reportedly getting more revenue from the company.
O’Connor, who has been with Apple since 1991, led the company’s global deployment of SAP business management software, developing the support on for company’s complex supply chain.
Any potential expansion of Apple’s business in India comes at time of increasing public scrutiny of US of companies moving jobs overseas. The company’s supply chain and its global partners in particular have received a lot of unwanted attention recently.
Apple has ongoing issues with Chinese component supplier Foxconn’s labor problems while still coping with disruptions due to Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis.
Indian technology firms are constantly pressured by major their American customers, such as General Electric, to lower outsourcing costs. The company is a highly desired customer for these firms because its projects have a reputation for paying well for high quality work.
Apple has previously attempted to start its own operations in India, opening a development center in Bangalore in 2006, only to close it within months.