Apple has seeked the Government’s approval as it plans to import and sell refurbished iPhones in India. The company is also planning to set up a facility which will renovate used mobiles shipped from China.
The company filed an application to the Environment ministry’s technical review committee (TRC) on December 7th
TRC last year had turned down a similar proposition from Apple citing that it would only add on to the country’s e-waste.
Although TRC had said that devices which were less than three year old with at least five years of more life could be allowed for imports. But Apple, has claimed that all the refurbished products are made by the original equipment manufacturers which assures quality. The company also suggested that the low budget smartphones could be replaced by these refurbished devces which will reduce the e-waste.
No business plan has been revealed by the company but the number of refurbished phones would be in low hundreds of thousands units annually.
[source]
