Apple is one of the most loved technology brands in India and its products are seen as a status symbol in our country. One reason that stops the middle-class people in India to buy Apple iPhones is their price. Interestingly, iPhones are not that costly in other countries like USA, China, and Japan and there is a big difference if we convert the price of iPhones in other countries to Indian currency.
This brings us to the question that why Apple products are expensive in India as compared to other countries. Well, below are few points that will help you to understand this.
1. Not having manufacturing plants in India
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Apple sells its products with a huge network of retail stores in India rather than their official stores and this is because of India’s Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) policy that says that any brand has to source 30 percent of its components locally if it wants to open manufacturing units in the country. Apple collects its components from different suppliers that are produced in 28 countries. Due to this very reason, many multinational brands such as H&M also sell their products at high prices in India.
2. Custom Duty
We know that for every product India imports a fixed amount of custom duty is imposed on products. On an average, the total amount of duties on Apple products paid to the government is 11.43% which includes shipping and handling charges also.
3. Central Government Taxes
Note that iPhone accessories such as earphones, chargers come under different categories and Value Added Tax(VAT) is applied on these items which is around 12.5%.
4. State Government Taxes
After the central government tax, every brand has to pay different taxes in different states of India and this is probably the reason why prices of iPhones are different in different regions of India.
Knowing the popularity of Apple products in India and the cheap labor available here, it is expected that Apple will soon start manufacturing here. Apple tried an experiment with this when they made some Apple SE phones in Bengaluru.
We hope that this article has helped you to know about the reasons why Apple sells its phones at higher prices in India as compared to other countries.
