Indian engineers make up a third of Apple’s pie

BANGALORE: India has become a major ingredient in Apple's secret sauce, and the scale may surprise many. It is estimated that a third of the $171-billion company's engineering staff is Indian, and that a large and increasing proportion of its enterprise software, service and support work is done by Indian IT vendors. Apple filed 1,750 H-1B applications during the 10-year period 2001 to 2010, but the number increased sharply to 2,800 during 2011-13. US-based HfS Research that compiled the data says the majority of the H-1Bs would be Indians, indicating that the iPhone and iPad maker's dependence on Indian engineers has risen significantly in recent years. "About one-third of Apple's engineering headcount consists of Indians who are either on H-1B or on Green Card," said Pareekh Jain, principal analyst at HfS Research. HfS arrives at that conclusion looking at figures Apple disclosed in 2012, when it said it had 47,000 people working directly for it in the US, of which 7,700 were customer support operators, and 27,350 worked retail in Apple Stores, leaving about 12,000 as engineers, designers, marketers and other white-collar tech product workers. HfS Research also finds that Apple works with at least five India-based IT vendors — including four large firms and one small firm — and the scope of the work they do has been rising.

TOI