Apple To Roll Out Its Largest Franchise Outlet In Mumbai

Apple has just had its largest franchise outlet in India after years of waiting for approval from the local government. The new store, called Flagship Apple Premium Reseller, is 8,000 sq ft and covers two floors of Mumbai’s High Street Phoenix Mall. All of Apple’s available range in the country can be found here.

According to Sutinder Singh, Aptronix’s founder, the FAPR is the largest of Apple stores in the country, and it will also provide the best experience for users in India. Aptronix has already run over 30 Apple outlets in the country alone, but none of them can reach the magnitude of this latest store. The FAPR also has products like fitness and health devices, along with Apple accessories.

Earlier this year, there were reports revealing Apple’s plan to open about six outlets in India this year. Three of them would be in Mumbai, Delhi, and NCR. The average size of these stores will be at least three times larger than that of what the company was operating in the country. However, this new outlet in Mumbai is over five times as big as other outlets.

Apple’s effort to roll out its first store in India has been hindered for years. The reason here is, according to the Indian government, companies that have the ratio of foreign investment larger than 51% must have 30% of their goods locally-sourced. The solution the iPhone maker chooses was to open franchise outlets instead.

However, back in 2015, the government announced that for certain segments, the 30% law was impossible to achieve. That is why the Indian authority decided to relax the regulations for companies with cutting-edge technologies. That leads to another problem, there is no conclusive definition of what cutting-edge technology is.