Apple is set to open its first flagship retail store in India this year. Financial Times reports that the tech giant has started hiring for 12 locations across the country as job listings directly refer to Apple Store.
Previously, in 2020, the company’s CEO Tim Cook announced that it would open its first retail store in India in September 2021. However, the plan was pushed back because of the COVID-19 pandemic breakout in March 2020.
12 listings appear for Apple Stores on the company’s career page in India
Recently, Economic Times reported that the first-ever flagship Apple Store in India would open in the first quarter of 2023. It would be a 22,000-square-foot building in Mumbai’s upscale Jio World Centre comparable to other flagship stores in the U.S., Singapore, Canada, the UK, and others. And the new report corroborates the opening of retail locations in the country.
FT writes that the company’s recruitment drive has begun to hire hundreds of new workers for various roles.
Apple’s career page listed openings for 12 different job functions it seeks to fill in “various locations within India,” including technical specialist, business expert, senior manager, store leader and “genius”.
The 12 listings imply hundreds of job openings, as a typical Apple Store has at least 100 employees and flagship locations can have up to 1,000 workers.
The 12 listings imply hundreds of job openings, as a typical Apple Store has at least 100 employees and flagship locations can have up to 1,000 workers.
Although the tech giant has not officially confirmed the opening of the locations, at least 5 new hires in New Delhi and Mumbai announced their employment at the company and the company’s recruitment head in India also celebrated the announcements.
Separately, at least five employees in Mumbai and New Delhi have announced on LinkedIn they have been hired for the yet-to-be- announced stores. One announced they had been named “Lead Genius” — a customer-facing tech- support role — while another said she had been named a senior manager. Apple’s head of recruiting in India, Renu Sevanthi, “celebrated” several of the announcements on the social networking site.
The Cupertino tech giant’s partners have shifted their manufacturing units to India to assemble iPhone models. Starting with iPhone SE (first generation) in 2020, the company now ships iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus models from the South Asian country. The opening of new retail locations in the country would further push the company’s diversification plans outside of China.
