Hyderabad set to become Apple's 2nd largest tech hub worldwide

Apple is the latest US technology giant looking to harness Indian talent as it eyes customers in the country to buy its products. This comes at a time when growth in its most important markets -- China and the US -- have begun to taper off. The prospect of the Indian economy peaking and the demographics allow American firms to set up bases in the country.

Apple, which opened its map development centre in Hyderabad, will employ nearly 4,000 people making teh facility the largest technology hub outside of its headquarters in Cupertino, California.

For global technology companies, apart from offering a very lucrative market, India is also the only place where they can find high-quality talent in large numbers. Apple sees that India could potentially offset falling sales of the iPhone globally. This, and the fact that India is among the largest smartphone and telecom markets make it highly important for Apple to crack.

“I think the reason why they have chosen India is because the talent is also there and the consumer is also there. It makes sense for them to tap into a talent pool in the market where the consumers are also likely to be of importance. I don’t understand why they gave it (India) importance so late,” said Debabrat Mishra, Sr Client Partner, Korn Ferry Hay Group.

Apple’s arch nemesis Google, has had a presence in India since October 2004 and currently employs 7,000 odd people in the country across several offices. Today, the company’s Android mobile operating system powers over 85 per cent of the quarter billion smartphones in the country.

Google along with other large American technology giants such as Amazon, IBM, Accenture, Oracle, Cisco, Intel and Honeywell employ close to 250,000 people in India. Out of these IBM, Accenture and Oracle have especially large operations in the country with 100,000 employees, 65,000 employees and 31,000 employees respectively. IBM is the largest IT vendor in India, outwitting local giants in winning clients both in private and government sector.

“India is the only country where you can see a pipeline for young talent 15-20 years from now,” says an executive at a large multinational firm. “It also helps this and China are the only economies that are growing”

The Indian units of these companies almost never serve just the local market, but service global requirements, similar to what Apple is planning. Google’s team in India is working on projects to tap the next five billion, using the country as a base to test its products.

The low cost talent definitely helps as well as the technology sector’s maturity to support innovations at a global scale.

Hyderabad, the city which Apple picked to setup its map development centre is also home to The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) that processes maps and images transmitted by India’s earth observation satellites, while there are over 50 small enterprises that support the mapping technology industry, making talent readily available. Amazon and Microsoft also have base in Hyderabad as well as in Bengaluru, the country’s tech hub.