India's pollution regulator is threatening to shut down a Tata facility that makes iPhone components after local farmers said factory wastewater was ruining their land and wells.
Tata Electronics operates a plant in Hosur, in the south of Tamil Nadu, that produces iPhone parts including back panels. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board warned Tata that it may force a closure after farmers repeatedly complained that wastewater from the facility was seeping into their farmland and open wells. Regulators say Tata did not take corrective action after earlier warnings. The Hosur plant is one of two major Apple-linked facilities Tata now runs in India, following its acquisition of a Pegatron iPhone factory in 2024.
Apple has made India the centerpiece of its plan to reduce dependence on Chinese manufacturing, and Tata is the anchor of that strategy. A forced shutdown at Hosur would hit component supply and, more awkwardly, the narrative that India is a stable, ready alternative to China. The episode also demonstrates that Indian regulators are willing to apply pressure even when the target is carrying significant foreign investment.
Shifting a supply chain halfway around the world does not make it simpler. It just trades one set of risks for another.