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Govt. takes a strong stance against refurbished iPhone sales in India

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Soma Tah
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This is the second time Indian government has made it clear that if Apple wants to grow iPhone sales in India, it will have to find ways other than selling old phones.

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At a press conference in New Delhi on Monday, India's commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government has rejected Apple's proposal to sell refurbished iPhones in the country.

This is the second blow to Apple, as the finance ministry already told Apple that if it wishes to open stores in the country, it has to sell at least 30 percent locally-sourced goods.

Although Apple never said anything publicly about its intent, but Apple CEO Tim Cook during his recent visit to India told NDTV 24X7 that Apple wants to make phones available at an affordable price to Indian consumers and selling refurbished devices is one of its strategy to attract price-sensitive Indian buyers.

India being the world's second fastest growing smartphone market, typically consumes maximum number of smartphones in the price bracket of Rs 10-15,000. There is no way that Apple can sink its teeth into that piece of the pie, as any new-generation iPhone in India comes under Rs 50,000 + price band.

Selling refurbished iPhones would have allowed Apple to offer the smartphones at a significantly lower price point and propagate the brand among Indian youth, and gradually get a strong foothold in the market through natural upgrade path, which anyway does not seem possible now.

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