Tech giant Apple will launch an e-commerce store in India next month, according to a report by Bloomberg News.

The firm will be timing its launch to begin trading in time for India’s busiest spending season, the Diwali festival. It follows CEO Tim Cook’s statement several months ago that Apple will start retailing within the territory next year.

The firm’s smartphones are currently retailed via third parties within India, including existing online channels under Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart. 

Roughly a third of India’s 1 billion wireless subscribers do not use smartphones, representing a huge potential market for industry players in a region offering low pay rates to workers in manufacturing.

A raft of Apple products are already being produced in southern India.