Apple Inc. opened its first flagship store in India on Tuesday.
CEO Tim Cook was shown posing for photos with fans who lined up outside the 20,000-square-foot facility in Mumbai.
Apple said its hub was designed to be one of the most energy-efficient locations in the world, including a dedicated solar array and zero reliance on fossil fuels for its operations.
APPLE TO OPEN NEW INDIA STORES IN MAJOR COMMITMENT TO WORLD'S 5TH-LARGEST ECONOMY
A second store is slated to open on Thursday in New Delhi.
"India has such a beautiful culture and an incredible energy, and we’re excited to build on our long-standing history," Cook said in a statement.
The California-based tech giant has been operating in India for more than 25 years, selling its products through authorized retailers and the website it launched a few years ago. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and regulatory hurdles have delayed plans to open the flagship, located in the city's Bandra Kurla Complex financial, arts and entertainment district.
In September, the company announced that it would start making its iPhone 14 in the country.
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Apple first started manufacturing from India in 2017 with the iPhone SE.
The majority of Apple's smartphones and other products are made in China, but the company began to look at shifting production to Southeast Asia and elsewhere after repeated shutdowns to fight against COVID-19 disrupted its global flow of products.
Now, India makes nearly 13 million iPhones annually. That number is up from less than 5 million just three years ago, according to Counterpoint Research, and is bout 6% of iPhones made worldwide. China still makes about 90% of them.
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Earlier this month, India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the government was in regular touch with Apple to support its business in India, and that the company had plans to have 25% of its global production come out of India during the course of the next five years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
