Daybreak

What put iPhone city on the map is that it produces more than half of the world’s iPhone’s every single year. The global demand for the Apple iPhone has only increased over the years. To keep up with that demand Foxconn hires up to 200,000 workers – a mix of migrants and college students – to make sure that the assembly lines keep running. Especially during the peak season which happens to begin right around now, from September to February. 

Iphone city is the perfect example of the China manufacturing playbook. It is what propelled China to emerge as the world’s manufacturing hub. It’s pretty simple – Foxconn and companies like it build these large facilities, pack millions of migrant laborers into dorms near their facilities, and get them to work long hours, in often tough conditions. 

But now things are changing. More and more global companies are adopting a China-plus-one strategy. And India is becoming a favoured alternative. 

And  as the focus shifts our way, manufacturers in India are pretty much replicating the same China labour model. But this model has an indigenous problem.

Tune in

DAYBREAK UNWIND RECOMMENDATIONS for "best opening lines in a book or a film."

Nicholas: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Story he refers to: The Most Memorable Annual Pig Parade of Kharagpur
Rahel: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 
Prithu: The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Avinash: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Ruhi: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K Rowling
Brady: Rounders (film, 1998)
Sayan: The Fellowship of the Ring, J. R. R Tolkien
Sameer: Gangs of Wasseypur (film, 2012)
Sumit: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Rohin: The Body by Stephen King
Snigdha: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Daybreak is now on WhatsApp at +918971108379. For next Thursday's Unwind, send us your recommendations to us as texts or voice notes. The theme is "favourite murder mystery."

What is Daybreak?

Business news is complex and overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be. Every day of the week, from Monday to Friday, Daybreak tells one business story that’s significant, simple and powerful.

Hosted from The Ken’s newsroom by Snigdha Sharma and Rahel Philipose, Daybreak relies on years of original reporting and analysis by some of India’s most experienced and talented business journalists.