EXCLUSIVE: Tata’s iPhone parts factory faces India health probe after farmer contamination complaints
Publish Date: 2026-06-19 03:30:00
Source Domain: www.reuters.com
- Tata iPhone parts plant key to Apple’s India expansion
- Health officials looking into issues, testing samples
- Some farmers reported skin issues due to alleged contamination
- Health probe separate from pollution investigation that Tata said had been dropped
HOSUR, India June 19 (Reuters) – An Indian state health authority is investigating how liquid discharged from Apple supplier Tata’s iPhone components factory has affected farmers, some of whom complained about skin issues from contamination in their farmlands, according to three officials and a document reviewed by Reuters.
The health investigation opens a new front in an environmental dispute that has become a test case for India’s push to become a major manufacturing hub for Apple (AAPL.O) iPhones. The Tata Electronics plant in Hosur in southern Tamil Nadu state was sent a warning notice by the state pollution control board on May 25 for allegedly contaminating groundwater in adjacent farms.
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Tata said in a statement this week that the pollution board had dropped its scrutiny after confirming its analysis of recently collected water samples from inside the facility did “not indicate any contamination”.
The pollution board and the state have not commented on the matter and did not respond to Reuters emails and phone calls requesting comment. Apple has also not commented on the situation and did not respond to Reuters’ requests.
Tata did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
According to government sources and a letter, health officials in the district have been running their own investigation since at least late May after farmer complaints about the plant, which opened in 2021 and makes iPhone back covers and some other parts.
A health inspection found discharge from the Tata plant had caused a “severe foul smell” and left water “unsuitable for animals to drink”, according to a May 27 letter sent by Anish Parvin, a government medical officer in the Ullugurukkai village,…
