Apple iPhone manufacturer Tata is accused of contaminating water needed by farms near its plant in Tamil Nadu, India, and of failing to take corrective action after warnings.
The plant in question is in Hosur in the south of the region, which Tata built after also acquiring a separate Pegatron iPhone factory in 2024. Now according to Reuters, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has warned Tata that it may force a shutdown.
Tata's plant makes various iPhone components including back panels. Local farmers complained repeatedly to TNPCB that wastewater from the factory was contaminating both their land, and open wells.
The complaints led to a total of five inspections by the regulator, between December 2025 and May 2026. The inspectors found that discharged wastewater had caused a Tata rainwater harvesting pond to overflow.
Consequently, the TNPCB concluded that "groundwater in the open wells located in the adjacent agricultural lands" was contaminated. Tata was reportedly warned of this as early as December 23, 2025, but the regulator now says that the company has not addressed the complaint.
A spokesperson for Tata told Reuters that an independent analysis had concluded the company was in full compliance with regulations. The spokesperson also denied that the company had failed to act, saying that it had responded to TNPCB.
Nonetheless, the TNPCB's latest step is to ask Tata why it should not close the factory, and order power to be cut to the facility.
Apple has not commented on the TNPCB's findings.
Tata in India
Tata has been expanding its iPhone manufacturing in India for around three years. Initially it bought Wistron's plant in Karnataka back in 2023, and then went into partnership with Pegatron.
The two companies also together committed over $1 billion to expand iPhone production in Tamil Nadu.
That 2024 partnership saw Tata take a controlling stake in that plant, and then also see the two firms working together on a facility in Hosur. This is the one that is now under threat from regulators, but it is also one that faced a fire that completely shut it down for a period in late 2024.
