Foxconn saga: Total recall

The Foxconn order — to send back Chinese workers from India's iPhone plants — is among the many steps taken by China to hit India's manufacturing sector

- SURAJEET DAS GUPTA

At a time when the automobile industry is coping with the shortage of heavy rare earth magnets, sourced primarily from China, Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn Hon Hai has delivered a blow to manufacturing of Apple products in India.

Ahead of the iPhone 17 launch, which was supposed to have brought India center stage in Apple's global supply chain, Foxconn has ordered hundreds of Chinese technicians and engineers to leave the Indian factories and return home.

While there's no official reason for the recall, people in the know explained that it was at the behest of the Chinese government, which has a hold over the Taiwanese firm.

For Foxconn, which is the biggest iPhone assembler for the Cupertino major, China accounts for 65-70 percent of its total revenues. In fact, half of Foxconn's long-term assets are located in China.

Foxconn has maintained silence on the matter.

Amid the geopolitical disruptions, experts watching this space believe that the recall of workers is just one aspect in a multi-pronged Chinese onslaught on India.

The aim is to disrupt the country's attempt and initial success to offer an alternative competitive global supply chain to multinationals as part of the China plus strategy.

The move should be seen against the backdrop of the possibility of the United States imposing higher tariffs on China compared to India, experts pointed out.

If that happens, Indian electronics exports would get a major boost—something China would want to prevent.

China has already tried to block big government-supported infrastructure projects by stopping exports of tunnel boring machines to India.

Those machines are crucial for the bullet train project and metro rail expansion, among others.

The current automobile industry crisis adds to the onslaught.