The government will soon take a call on the proposal that Apple be allowed to set up single brand retail stores in the country. There is a requirement for 30 percent local sourcing but Apple had given a presentation to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) suggesting that it be exempted as “cutting edge technology”. However, a new report says that a government official has confirmed this is going to be turned down.

The DIPP had found Apple’s products to be “cutting edge technology” and recommended that they be exempt from local sourcing norms. However, Livemint quotes an anonymous government official who says that there is nothing cutting edge about Apple’s technology.

As per the foreign direct investment (FDI) norms, the government may relax the mandatory local sourcing norms for entities undertaking single-brand retailing of products having state-of-the-art and cutting edge technology and where local sourcing is not possible.

The government had set up a committee to decide whether a product is state-of-the-art and can be eligible for exemption from the mandatory local sourcing applicable for FDI single-brand retail trading.

Based on this, it is curious that despite the committee deciding that Apple’s products are indeed cutting edge, there is still resistance and now a clear definition of “cutting edge”.

It’s worth pointing out that there is no official confirmation from either the government or from Apple.

However, we do know that other brands have also been trying to open their stores in India. Xiaomi submitted an application to open stores in India, as has Chinese technology company LeEco. It’s possible that the decision could be related to the number of applications that are being seen, though of course, without any official statement, this remains speculation.