Apple has crossed $10bn in annual sales in India for the first time. The milestone says as much about where the company is heading as where it has been. Revenue for the year to March topped $10bn, Bloomberg reported. That is up from about $9bn a year earlier, and $6bn two years before. iPhones made up the bulk of it.
The odd part is how Apple got there. It charges Indians more than Americans for the same phone. The entry iPhone 17 sells for 82,900 rupees, about $870. In the US it is $799. High local taxes drive the gap, in a country where average incomes run to a few thousand dollars a year.
The headline figure even undersells the growth. The rupee has fallen about 10% against the dollar since early last year. So the $10bn understates how much Apple actually sold in local terms. Growth still ran at a double-digit percentage rate, and demand for iPads and MacBooks rose too.
To soften the prices, Apple leans on financing. It partners with banks for credit-card rebates and instalment deals, pushes student discounts, and takes trade-ins. It is the same playbook it uses at home. Apple will not cut the premium, so it turns the price into a monthly payment most buyers can stomach.
A hedge that works twice
