Apple Stores are set to open in India under a partnership with Tata-owned consumer electronics brand retail chain Croma at six sites in India. The stores will open by Diwali this year.

Out of the six locations, five will be located at Croma outlets in Mumbai and one in Bangalore. In Mumbai, the outlets will be located at Juhu, Oberoi Mall, Malad, Ghatkopar, and Phoenix Mall, while in Bangalore, the store will come up at Jayanagar.

The stores will have a 400-500ft2 in area. The design, furniture, electrical fixtures and lighting in the store will be similar to that of the international Apple Stores and employees at these outlets will be trained by Apple. However, these stores will be different from the exclusive Apple stores. The outlets in Croma will not be owned by Apple, reported First Post.

Infiniti Retail CEO Avijit Mitra was quoted by First Post as saying: "We are proud to partner Apple to launch the Apple Store in India and extremely bullish about it. These stores will be modeled on the global design and will offer the best experience to consumers, showcasing the entire range of Apple products."

Apple has been selling its products in India through resellers, who run exclusive stores of the brand under the franchise model and also through consumer electronic retail outlets.

Due to several stringent bureaucratic rules regarding local sourcing conditions for single brand international retail brands, Apple has not been able to open retail outlets in India, reported Forbes.

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In India, Apple sold 1.7 million iPhones between October 2014 and September 2015, when compared to 1.1 million phones during the same period the previous year, The Indian Express reported.

Croma owns 97 stores across India with close to four million customers. Apple owns more than 460 stores in 17 countries.