Riot-Hit Apple Supplier Hired More Than It Could Handle in India

  • Wistron quadrupled workers in about eight months to 9,000
  • Probe alleges Wistron didn’t keep proper attendance records
Private security personnel guard the entrance of a Taiwanese-run iPhone factory at Narsapura, about 60 km from Bangalore on December 13, 2020. - Authorities vowed to crack down on workers who went on a violent rampage at a Taiwanese-run iPhone factory in southern India over allegations of unpaid wages and exploitation, with 100 people arrested so far. (Photo by Manjunath Kiran / AFP) (Photo by MANJUNATH KIRAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Apple Inc.’s supplier in India quadrupled workers in about eight months, ramping up production just as the world’s most valuable company began direct online sales in the South Asia nation. The only hitch: Wistron Corp.’s systems weren’t robust enough to handle the deluge.

The number of workers at the Taiwanese company, the first Apple supplier to produce iPhones in India, surged to about 9,000 in November from some 2,000 just before the pandemic, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Wistron hired the contractual workers from six manpower companies, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter was private. A representative for Wistron declined to comment.