Apple ties up with Croma; sales to start from Diwali
13 Oct 2015
Apple Inc has entered intoa partnership with Tata Group owned electronics chain Croma, which will now sell Apple devices.
Initially, the Apple products will be available at six locations as a pilot project. The stores will be modelled on global design and consumers will get the best experience.
"We are proud to partner Apple to launch the Apple Store in India and extremely bullish about it," said Avijit Mitra, chief executive officer of Infiniti Retail, which owns Croma.
The Croma stores that will have Apple devices will be at Mumbai and Bengaluru and they will open by Diwali next month.
Presently, Apple sells its devices in India through premium resellers who run exclusive brand stores under the franchise model.
Apple still does not have a store due to the mandatory local-sourcing norms for single-brand foreign direct investment in retail.
Croma has 97 stores across the country with 3.8 million customers, while Apple owns more than 460 stores in 17 countries - more than half in the US.
Sales of Apple's new devices iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will start from 16 October. It also plans to launch Apple Watch in India by Diwali.