Apple to open its first store in India next year

India is finally getting its very first Apple Store, reports CNN Business.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said Wednesday that the company plans to open a brick-and-mortar store in the country in 2021. A company spokesperson confirmed the news, which was reported earlier by Reuters.

In addition to starting its own retail network, the iPhone maker will start online sales in India this year, Cook told shareholders at an annual meeting in Cupertino, California.

A big reason Apple hasn't opened a store in the country until now is that Indian regulations require foreign retailers to source at least 30 per cent of their raw materials locally - a rule that Apple has tried to seek an exemption from. The company has instead sold its devices through stores run by local partners.

Cook said Wednesday the company "needed to get approval from the government to go in there ourselves."

"I don't want somebody else to run the brand for us," he added.

A company spokesperson declined to provide further details.

With nearly 700 million internet users and almost an equal number of people yet to come online for the first time, India is too big a market to ignore.

But life is getting tougher for Big Tech in India as the government tightens restrictions on foreign companies and shows a growing tendency to shut down internet access at sensitive political moments.