By Munsif Vengattil

BENGALURU, June 5 (Reuters) - Apple has brought in Tata Group to handle repairs for iPhones and MacBook devices in its fast-growing Indian market, signalling the Indian conglomerate's deepening role in the U.S. tech giant's supply chain, two people familiar with the matter said.

As Apple AAPL.O looks beyond China for manufacturing, Tata has fast emerged as its key supplier and already assembles iPhones for local and foreign markets at three facilities in south India, with one of them also making some iPhone components.

In its latest partnership expansion, Tata is taking over the mandate from an Indian unit of Taiwan's Wistron, ICT Service Management Solutions, and will carry out such after-sales repairs from its Karnataka iPhone assembly campus, both sources said.

The market for repairs is only going to boom in India, the world's second-biggest smartphone market, as iPhone sales skyrocket. Counterpoint Research estimates around 11 million iPhones were sold in India last year, giving Apple a 7% market share, compared to just 1% in 2020.

The latest contract award signals Apple's growing confidence on Tata as it hopes to win more business from the world's most valuable smartphone company.

"Tata's deepening partnership with Apple could also pave the groundwork for Apple directly selling refurbished devices in India, like how it does in the United States currently," said Prabhu Ram, a vice president at Cybermedia Research.

The takeover from ICT by Tata is currently ongoing, both sources said, who declined to be named as they were not authorized to speak on the matter.

Apple and Wistron did not respond to requests for comment, while a spokesperson for Tata declined to comment.

While Apple's official service centres across India can do basic repairs, they would now ship phones and laptops to Tata's facility for more complex issues.

Wistron's ICT however will continue to service other clients excluding Apple, one of the sources said.

Amid an impending threat of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on China, India is also emerging as a favoured destination for iPhone exports. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said the bulk of iPhones sold in the United States during June quarter will be made at factories in India.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Kalra and David Evans)

((munsif.vengattil@thomsonreuters.com;))