Apple CEO 'very bullish' on India; confident of opening more stores in Indian market
New York, Nov 2: Apple CEO Tim Cook voiced optimism that the Indian government will at some point agree to allow the technology giant to bring in its stores as he lauded the country's bold reforms, saying he is a "big believer" and "very bullish" on India.
Cook was responding to a question on whether Apple is at a disadvantage in India, as compared to other markets, in terms of ability to own stores and manufacture its products.
We've had really great productive discussions with the Indian government and I fully expect that at some point, they will agree to allow us to bring our stores into the country. We've been in discussions with them and the discussions are going quite well," Cook said during the fourth quarter 2018 earnings call Thursday.
Cook said that in India there are import duties in some or most of the product categories that Apple is in and in some cases they compound.
"This is an area that we're giving lots of feedback on. We do manufacture some of the entry iPhones in India and that project has gone well. I am a big believer in India. I am very bullish on the country and the people and our ability to do well there," he said.
Cook said that despite the challenges, including currency weakness, he was very optimistic about his company's future growth in the Indian market.
With the rupee touching 74 to a dollar, Cook said the currency weakness has been part of Apple's challenge in India, "as you can tell from just looking at the currency trends, but I sort of view these as speed bumps along a very long journey though, and the long term is, I think is very, very strong there (India).
"There's a huge number of people that will move into the middle class. The government has really focused on reform in a major way and made some very bold moves and I applaud them for doing that, and sort of can't wait for the future there," he said.
On some deceleration in key emerging markets, Cook said the emerging markets that Apple is seeing pressure in are Turkey, India, Brazil, Russia.
"These are markets where currencies have weakened over the recent period. In some cases, that resulted in us raising prices and those markets are not growing the way we would like to see," he said.
Cook said Apple's business in India in Q4 was flat.
"Obviously, we would like to see that be a huge growth. Brazil was down somewhat compared to the previous year. And so I think, or at least the way that I see these, is each one of the emerging markets has a bit of a different story, and I don't see it as some sort of issue that is common between those for the most part," he said.
The company said it saw great response to the new MacBook Pro models launched in July, with strong double digit revenue growth driving an all time quarterly record for Mac revenue.
We were especially pleased with Mac momentum in emerging markets with strong growth in Latin America, in India, the Middle East and Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe, Apple's Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said.
Apple sold 9.7 million iPads during the quarter, gaining share in nearly every market it tracked. However, on a year-to-year basis, there was a six per cent decrease in the number of iPads sold, from 10.3 million in Q4, 2017.
"We generated iPad growth in a number of key regions around the world, including Latin America, Europe, Japan, India and South Asia. Among customers around the world purchasing iPads during the quarter, nearly half were new to iPad, and our active installed base of iPads reached a new all-time high," Maestri said.
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Rupee surges 50 paise to 92.56 against USD in early trade after US, Iran agree to 2-week ceasefire
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee appreciated 50 paise to 92.56 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump announced suspension of military strikes against Iran for two weeks.
Forex traders said the two-week ceasefire announcement triggered a wave of outsized bargain buying amongst the risk assets as Asian Stocks, Dow futures, Gold and Silver all rallied while Brent Oil fell below USD 100 to USD 96 per barrel.
The rupee in accordance surged to 92.56 levels, with the RBI deadline still in place till the 10th of April (regarding squaring of positions taken overnight up to USD 100 million) while the RBI announces its monetary policy today at 10 am.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 92.92 against the US dollar, then gained ground to touch 92.56 against the US dollar in initial trade, registering a gain of 50 paise over its previous close.
On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 93.06 against the American currency.
Attention now shifts to the RBI’s first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of FY 2026–27. The key focus areas will be: RBI's outlook on inflation and growth, its assessment of global uncertainties and any indication of focus on currency stability.
"The tone of the policy will be closely tracked, especially given the rapidly changing global environment," CR Forex Advisors MD Amit Pabari said.
The decision of the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra, will be announced at 10 am.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.90 per cent at 98.96.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 12.68 per cent at USD 95.42 per barrel in futures trade, after the announcement of the ceasefire.
President Trump announced a two-week suspension of military strikes against Iran just hours before his 8 pm ET deadline.
Iran agreed to allow safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz during the ceasefire, triggering sweeping market moves across oil, equities and currencies.
The rupee is likely to remain range-bound with a bit of volatile moves between 92.50 to 93.50 as the markets await the RBI's monetary policy.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex was trading 2527.47 points or 3.39 per cent higher at 77,144.05, while the Nifty jumped 767.25 points or 3.32 per cent to 23,890.90 in initial trade.
Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 8,692.11 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
