KOLKATA/ NEW DELHI: Buoyed by the success of the iPhone in India, Apple Inc has decided to scale up its presence in the country and plans to triple its exclusive stores to around 200 by 2015, said three of its dedicated franchisees.

These franchisees, who did not wish to be named, told ET that they have been asked to scale up operations in the country as the Cupertino-based company plans to grow aggressively in the country. In addition to increasing the number of Apple exclusive stores, called Apple Premium Resellers, that are owned and managed by 17 franchisees, the company also plans to expand its presence in multi-brand stores, they said.Some of these plans are said to have been discussed during last month’s Mumbai visit of Hugeues Asseman, Apple’s vicepresident (sales) for Europe, Middle-East, India, and Africa. Asseman met key trade partners and franchisee owners to take stock of the company’s India business and to outline the company’s expansion plans. Apple’s London-based spokesman, Alan Hely, declined comment on the company’s expansion plans.India had for a long time been a low-priority market for the company founded by Steve Jobs. But surging sales of iPhones and iPads here, combined with the growing inroads of Samsung in its traditional US market and elsewhere, have prompted Apple to take a serious look at India as it searches for new growth markets.The company has launched a massive advertisement campaign in the country and started offering iPhones on equated monthly installment (EMI) scheme, pitting itself head-to-head against its Korean rival. It has also recently extended the EMI scheme to iPads. “After the success of iPhone, Apple has finally realised that India is a big market and needs separate focus,” said a Mumbai-based Apple franchisee, on condition of anonymity.At present, there are more than 65 exclusive Apple stores in India owned and managed by franchisees. Apple products are also sold through multi-brand outlets such as Croma and The Mobile Store.So far, Apple has not opened any of its iconic company-owned stores in India. While the government has allowed single-brand companies like Apple to operate fully-owned stores, it has made it compulsory for such firms to source 30% of the goods they sell here from local vendors. Currently, the US company does not manufacture any of its products in India and the 30% sourcing clause could, therefore, deter it from opening self-owned stores. But it has asked its franchisees to upgrade Apple exclusive stores in India to global specifications, including designing, lay-outs, fit-outs, and is even sending its global suppliers to fit those stores. These outlets will have a lot of glass decor, which Apple uses at its company-owned stores in the US. The cost of refitting and redesigning each store is expected to be more than Rs 1 crore, which the company will reimburse the franchisee owners over a year, an Apple Premium Reseller franchisee said.Reliance Retail, Apple’s largest premium reseller in India, is already planning to expand the number of Apple iStores from 20 at present. “After consolidating our operations, we are currently looking at several properties for Apple stores. The existing stores and newer ones will be remodeled with newer fixtures that Apple uses in some of its best stores internationally to provide a far superior consumer experience,” Brian Bade, CEO at Reliance Digital , said.Bade, however, said Reliance Retail has no specific target for the number of Apple stores it wants to open. “The Apple business is extremely good and showing healthy growth,” he said, adding Reliance Retail is looking at prime properties in the range of 800 sq ft to 2,000 sq ft for the Apple stores. “Apple has expansion plans in India, but it is not possible for me to comment on them,” he added. Some sections of the trade feel that Apple’s expansion plans may be a little ambitious. “Expanding the retail network to so many stores as it may be planning may be a little stretched for a market like India, but Apple surely knows its business best,” says Himanshu Chakrawarti, CEO at The Mobile Store, India’s largest mobile phone retailer with 1,000 stores where iPhone is the second-highest revenue grosser after Samsung Galaxy Grand.The US and China were the only countries that accounted for more than 10% of Apple’s net sales in 2012 and 2011. Apple CEO Tim Cook had time and again said China is where Apple would see future growth, and famously said last year that while he loved India, the country had much less business potential. This is in stark contrast to Samsung, which has identified India as a key market for its smartphone business.But the growing popularity of iPhones in India has made the US consumer technology company re-assess the Indian market. Its share of smartphones shipped to India, measured in value terms, rose to 15.6% in October-December from 3.9% in the preceding quarter. This growth was led by a few strategic initiatives undertaken by the company. In November, Apple moved away from its global model of selling phones bundled with talktime only through mobile operators in India. It appointed retail distributors and started selling iPhones directly to consumers, who in turn could opt for any GSM operator .“Earlier, most of us would do iPhone sales of Rs 30-40 lakh a month. Now each store does monthly business of Rs 2 crore . Apple has sold more iPhones in India since November than they did in the last four years,” said the owner of an Apple premium reseller.But experts feel it will be a tall order for Apple to catch up or even come near Samsung, the smartphone market leader in India and across the world. The Korean company’s market share, measured in value of smartphones shipped to India, stands at over 38%. It has built a strong distribution network with over 500 exclusive smartphone and tablet stores, christened as Samsung Smartphone Cafes, as well as another 350 Samsung Plazas where it sells its entire product portfolio.