Recently, the Tata Group has been actively expanding its electronics business. It is said that the Indian conglomerate was looking to acquire a major stake in vivo India’s business. However, according to a recent report from TOI, the Tata Group’s bid to acquire the stake may have stalled due to objections from Apple.
vivo India was actively looking to sell a major stake of 51% to Tata Group. This will ease the company’s operation in India and get more funding for expansion. The Indian government has always been vigilant about this Chinese firm, and a move like this would benefit its operations in India.
Unfortunately, Tata Group already has a manufacturing partnership with Apple, having acquired Wistron India’s Bengaluru unit. Hence, a partnership with vivo would mean a direct partnership with Apple’s competitor, affecting both firms.
A source related to the matter told TOI that:
This has been one of the key reasons (Tata’s partnership with Apple) that scuttled the plan. For Apple, any deal of the Tata group, its key manufacturing ally, with Vivo would have meant a partnership with a competitor. This perhaps led to the talks breaking down between Tatas and Vivo. Re-think looks highly unlikely ‘as of now’.
We can expect vivo India to soon find a new Indian ally to ease its business operations in India. We should get more information on this matter in the coming months.