Apple has pulled out its software development and support operations in India. The company had commenced operations in April and hired about 30 people for its subsidiary, Apple Services India Pvt Ltd. At a meeting on May 29, Apple announced its decision to lay off all its employees. Apple officials told them that “the company is revaluating its operations and has thought of pulling back its Indian operations”.

Apple is giving these employees a severance package of two months salary. It will settle all claims on June 9. When contacted, Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesperson, said, “We have re-evaluated our plans and have decided to put our planned support centre growth in other countries.”

Apple continues to operate its sales and marketing arm in Bangalore which employs 25 people. For most employees it was a bolt from the blue. “It started off with building dreams. We were not given any warning. They just told us the operations would now head back to the US,” said a sacked employee. “On May 15, Apple officials addressed us and were highly appreciative of the workforce and the task it would execute in India. I wonder why they never said anything even then,” said another fired employee.

Considering the low-cost, high-quality talent pool that Bangalore offers, it is unclear why Apple decided to shut shop just over a month after it commenced operations. LoopRumors also reported that Steve Jobs was planning a trip to India in April, which he never did. Apple had set itself a hiring target of 600 by the year-end. After a gala induction ceremony on April 17, the operations team went to Transworks for training. Some of the managers were about to leave for the US for further training when they were asked to stay put.

source: Slashdot, Times of India.

-Abhisheyk