In 2024, I had stopped briefly at the memorial of Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur near Chennai on my way to Bengaluru. I spoke to half-a-dozen people, who could converse in English. My taxi driver told me that the locals were more excited about a massive factory in the city than about the late prime minister’s memorial. There was a buzz about a hostel-cum-dormitory that was being built for the upcoming plant’s female employees, who would number in thousands.
Near Bengaluru, just like around Chennai, the locals in Devanahalli, a town that is an hour drive away, were similarly animated about a new factory. A Sriperumbudur-style housing colony that could accommodate 1,00,000 female workers was almost ready. Both Devanahalli and Sriperumbudur are hosts to massive factories that will build and assemble iPhones in India. They represent a silent revolution in the country’s labour ecosystem, which has been triggered by Apple’s strategic choice to make its phones in India.
Although it is impossible to get accurate data, fairly-reliable estimates exist. By the end of August 2025, more than 600,000 workers were busy manufacturing iPhones or its components. The frenetic pace at which the three Apple partners, Foxconn, Tata Group and Pegatron, are ramping up production capacities is blistering and almost-unbelievable. Analysts reckon that the ecosystem will directly employ one million workers, both men and women, and provide ancillary livelihoods to another million by mid 2026.
While Apple, under pressure, has committed to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the US to make MAGA possible, it has not weaned away from its commitments in India. Recently, the company’s CEO, Tim Cook, assured Indian officials that Apple will neither walk away from nor delay its immediate investments of more than $2 billion. Thus, while there is a shift in manufacturing strategy due to the US President Donald Trump’s tariff and trade wars, and urgency to force Americans and foreigners to invest in America, the iPhone global supply chains, especially via India, remain intact.
The Indian manufacturing ecosystem is not only about jobs, and especially employment to tens of thousands of women. It is about empowering the female workers. Industry estimates indicate that more than 70 per cent of the workforce in the iPhone facilities comprise women. Before they came to the factories, they worked as either manual labourers, or self-employed individuals running small shops and street carts. Hence, working for Apple and its partners implies a dramatic transformation for them.
From living on the edges and peripheries of poverty, the tens of thousands of women now dream of being a part of the middle class, with its conjoining aspirations and desires. Nations like China and Vietnam, just to cite a few examples, have used the foreign investments-led manufacturing route to achieve enormous growth in incomes and prosperity levels, especially for the women workforce. India, it seems, is taking the first few baby steps in this direction.
So far, it has been a success in a few segments like iPhones and mobile phones. The key lies in scaling up the model to build a value chain-driven sustainable ecosystem. From being pure assemblers, the Indian factories add more than 20 per cent to the Apple’s value chain. As the country sets up plants to make components such as phone cover, moulded glass, semiconductor, chips, camera and others, it will move up the value-chain ladder in the future.
The numbers are staggering. In 2017-18, when serious strategic efforts like the PLI (Production-Linked Incentive) schemes were unwrapped to encourage domestic manufacturing, Indian exports of smart phones were valued at $200 million. In 2024-25, the value had skyrocketed to more than $24 billion. In the first six months of 2025, Apple shipped iPhones worth $22 billion to the US. It is another matter that the PLI scheme did not work in other sectors.
This proves the point that a success in one sector is not logically and automatically replicable and scalable in another one. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy in manufacturing. While the government can provide an umbrella-like environment for businesses to thrive, each segment’s demands are exclusive. The policy-makers, industry and other stakeholders need to work together to achieve successes. Or else, the Government can give ample freedom, and leave the businesses to their devices. China and Japan opted for the former. Asian Tigers embraced the latter. However, in a democracy like India, both are fraught with problems. One needs to tread carefully.
But this columnist is more fascinated by the number of women who are getting gainful employment due to manufacturing growth. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey by the National Statistical Office, the Worker Population Ratio among females was 32 per cent in August 2025, with rural India’s figure being almost 36 per cent, and urban one less than 24 per cent.
The female Labour Force Participation was less than 34 per cent in August 2025, according to the same survey, with the rural figure being just above 37 per cent, and the urban one just above 26 per cent. The numbers indicate two trends. One, most women do not wish to enter the labour market. For reasons related to family, maternity, social norms and economics, they are uninterested. Among those who want a job, there is a lack of semi-skilled and skilled work for women.
While services and self-entrepreneurship have opened new avenues for women to enter the workforce, the situation is a bit dismal in the manufacturing sector. By wooing global manufacturing giants like Apple, and carmakers, coupling this with the right policies, several southern states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka lead the way in empowering women through employment in factories. One estimate indicates that of the women employed in manufacturing jobs in the country, nearly 40 per cent is in Tamil Nadu.
It is evident that if India wishes to seriously embark on an economic journey that will push per capita income from the current $2,800 to $10,000 over the next decade or so, women employment needs to be pushed up. Not just any jobs, but well-paying manufacturing ones that make them feel proud. The Apple miracle can be replicated in other sectors, and other states. But this requires a change in mindset, political will, right approach, and breaking down traditions.
The author has worked for leading media houses, authored two books, and is now Executive Director, C Voter Foundation