India’s pollution regulator has alleged that a Tata Electronics factory producing components for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones contaminated groundwater on nearby farmland.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board issued a warning notice to Tata Electronics dated May 25, reviewed by Reuters, threatening a forced shutdown unless the company provides a satisfactory explanation.
The plant under investigation is located in Hosur, in southern Tamil Nadu state, and manufactures back panels and other components for iPhones.
Farmland owners near the Hosur facility had filed complaints for months, alleging that wastewater discharged from the factory was contaminating their land and open wells.
Those complaints triggered five separate state inspections between December 2025 and May 2026, according to details contained in the previously unreported regulatory notice.
Inspections found that Tata discharged wastewater into a rainwater harvesting pond inside its facility, which then overflowed and contaminated “groundwater in the open wells located in the adjacent agricultural lands,” according to the pollution board’s warning notice.
The board also alleged that Tata had not taken any corrective actions following instructions issued in a previous letter dated December 23, 2025.
In response, Tata Electronics said it had commissioned an independent analysis through an accredited laboratory, which determined the company was “in full compliance with all regulatory norms.”
Tata added that it was “committed to responsible business practices and protection of the environment and local communities,” and confirmed it had responded to pollution authorities, without providing further details.
The pollution board’s May notice formally asked Tata to explain why power to the unit should not be cut and the plant closed for the alleged breach of environmental rules.
Apple, which enforces strict policies on how its suppliers manage wastewater, did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment, nor did the Tamil Nadu state government.
Tata Electronics is central to Apple’s strategy to shift iPhone manufacturing beyond China, and is the second-largest Apple supplier in South Asia after Taiwan’s Foxconn.
The contamination allegations add to a string of setbacks for Apple’s India supply chain, including a fire at the Hosur plant in September 2024 that briefly halted component production.
A separate fire in September 2023 at former supplier Pegatron’s iPhone plant in India shut production for several days, compounding concerns about supply chain reliability in the region.
In 2024, a Reuters investigation also found that major Apple supplier Foxconn had systematically excluded married women from iPhone assembly jobs at one of its Indian plants, though the company said at the time that it complied with all applicable laws.
Despite these challenges, India is projected to manufacture 26% of all iPhones globally in 2026, up sharply from just 6% four years ago, according to research firm Counterpoint.
