iPhone-maker to invest $5bn to Make in PUNE, Maharashtra.

Mumbai: TNN & AGENCIES





Taiwan's Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer and a key supplier to Apple Inc, on Saturday signed a pact with Maharashtra to invest $5 billion over five years in a semiconductor manufacturing facility.The investment, touted to be one of the largest in the state, comes within a week of US multinational General Motors' $1billion pledge to manufactures automobiles in Maharashtra. It will also bolster PM Narendra Modi's `Make in India' campaign, which aims to turn Asia's third-largest economy into a manufacturing powerhouse.
The MoU to set up the unit was signed in the presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Foxconn chairman Terry Gou on Saturday at the World Trade Centre here. TOI has in the past -most recently on August 5 -reported how Foxconn, the trade name for $132-billion Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd which also counts Blackberry , Xiaomi and Amazon as clients, had ambitious plans to invest in India.
Fadnavis said the Foxconn plant would generate employment for about 50,000 people. The company employs about 1.3 million people during peak production times, making it one of the largest private employers in the world.
The state government has offered 1,500 acres in the MIDC estate at Talegaon near Pune. The unit will manufacture for the local market as well as exports, which will be helped by the proximity of the proposed Navi Mumbai international airport.
Gou said Foxconn was looking for local partners for the Talegaon facility but declined to say if the Taiwan based company would make mobile phones there. Gou, who met Fadnavis seven times in the last two months alone, attributed state leadership and progressive response from the government for choosing Maharashtra over other states. India could help Foxconn mitigate accelerating wage inflation in China, where it makes the majority of iPhones, and base production sites closer to markets where its key clients want to grow. With $20 billion of investments lined up for India alone, Foxconn is in talks with other states to set up manufacturing units and forge possible partnerships in the world's fastest growing smartphone market.
Foxconn is learnt to be in touch with the Ahmedabad based Adani Group, a multinational conglomerate with interests in commodities, logistics, agri-business and energy, to be its partner in a few of the plants.