Apple India profit surges 140 percent on steady expenses
Apple India saw its profits grow 2.2x as its topline increased and expenses stayed steady. In contrast, most of its rival smartphone makers in India are struggling to make money.
Apple India Private Ltd reported a net profit of Rs 8,96.3 crore for financial year 2018 ended March, up from Rs 3,73.3 crore in the previous year. Documents filed by the Cupertino-based iPhone-maker with Registrar of Companies (RoC) show that the India subsidiary generated a revenue of Rs 13,097.6 crore for FY18, up 12 percent from Rs 11,704.3 crore of revenue it reported in FY 2017.
The principal business activities of its Indian subsidiary according to the filings are “Apple products and variety of related software” and “marketing and maintenance related services for Apple products and software”. The former contributes almost all of the company’s turnover (96.22 percent).
The expenditure for Apple’s Indian subsidiary increased only marginally to Rs 11,740.7 crore in FY 2018 compared to Rs 11,093.4 crore in FY 2017.
The company assembles two low-cost models (the iPhone SE and the iPhone 6S) at the Wistron facility in Bengaluru. But with limited domestic demand for its high-end phones, the company has resisted government pressure to move more of its manufacturing from China to India.
Sales from its services such as the AppStore, Apple Music and iCloud have also been increasing.
A recent Counterpoint Research report said that said Chinese handset maker Xiaomi dominated India smartphone shipments in the third quarter of this year in India, considered to be the third-largest smartphone market in the world.
Out of the FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google) companies, only Google, Facebook and Apple are making money in the Indian market. Google India reported revenue of Rs 9,337.7 crore for FY 2018 as against Rs 7,239.5 crore in FY 2017. Its net profit also rose to Rs 407.2 crore compared to Rs 306.6 crore in the previous year.
