The Taiwanese giant has proposed to commission an assembly unit for Apple’s iPhones by April next year. Construction work on the plant, in which Foxconn plans to invest about Rs 8,500 crore, would start immediately after the transfer of the land.
The facility will come up in the information technology investment region (ITIR) spread across Devanahalli and Doddaballapur talukas, the minister said, responding to a query from Doddaballapur MLA Dheeraj Muniraju.
The facility, to be set up by the world’s biggest contract manufacturer, will have the capacity to assemble about 20 million smartphones annually, a recent statement from the government said. The plant will be Foxconn’s largest in India.
Foxconn is setting up its best assembly line segment for iPhones with plans for about 50,000 jobs. Karnataka’s High Level Clearance Committee had, in March, cleared Foxconn’s proposal to set up a mobile phone unit with an investment of $1 billion (over Rs 8,000 crore). The company subsequently increased the investment proposal to $ 1.7 billion.
Foxconn has asked for five million litres of water a day for the plant. The government has assured the company that it would meet this as well as other requirements such as provision of a road and uninterrupted power supply.
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The Taiwanese company plans to build the facility in three stages and assemble 20 million smartphones a year. It has already paid Rs 90 crore, which makes up 30% of the land cost, to the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board, the government statement said.Foxconn already manufactures iPhones for Apple in India. It has facilities in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Its increased India push has been triggered by strong domestic demand for iPhones as well as a surge in exports from India led by the diversification of global supply chains away from China.
Karnataka government officials believe an investment by Foxconn would help attract many other frontline global electronics companies to the state.
Early this year, Karnataka’s legislature passed a bill proposing amendments to its Factories Act, 1948, to align the law with best modern labour practices followed in some western countries and in China, to emerge as a winner in the electronics and semiconductor sectors.
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