Investment of Rs 31,887 crores to create 50k jobs
Mumbai : World’s largest electronics assembly manufacturer Foxconn signed an agreement with the state government here on Saturday to invest Rs. 31,887 crores ($5 billion) over the next five years.
The agreement, that promises the largest investment by a foreign company in the state, was signed by industry secretary Apurva Chandra and Foxconn’s chief financial officer David Huang in presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Foxconn’s chairman Terry Gou.
Foxconn, that manufactures gadgets for world’s leading electronic brands, including Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, BlackBerry and Motorola, has indicated that the facility in Maharashtra will cater to solar powered data servers, mobiles, tablets and TVs along with the green technology for the mobiles.
This is second major success for the state government in the past fortnight. On 30 July, General Motors announced an investment of Rs.6,400 crore in the state.
Speaking with reporters later, Fadnavis said, “This investment will generate 50,000 direct jobs and the (Foxconn) plant is most likely to come up at Talegaon in Pune district along the Pune-Mumbai expressway on 1,500 acres of land that we have in possession.”
Fadnavis referred to his visit to Foxconn’s facility in China recently and the fact that the company’s investment in India will provide a boost to the Indian government’s Make in India campaign.
“Various studies show that if we don’t start manufacturing electronic items in India by 2030, our electronic items import bill will surpass our crude import bill,” Fadnavis added.
Speaking on the occasion, Gou said, “Since Fadnavis’s China visit, I (have) met him at least seven times and within two months we managed to seal the deal.
This shows the strong commitment and implementation skills of Maharashtra’s leadership and that’s why we decided to invest here.”
“The plant in Pune will be dedicated to production, innovation and research and development,” Gou said.
“We are not only going to make things here but we are looking at bringing the whole ecosystem here,” Gou said earlier.
He also talked about Foxconn’s vision to work in areas of solar energy, smart power transmission, data centres and investment in startups as a part of the company’s Internet Plus plan.
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Cong sceptical
The Congress has raised questions over the investment. MPCC chief Ashok Chavan, in a statement expressed satisfaction over the development. But, at the same time he raised questions over the quantum of the investment that is going to come in.
“When the MOU was signed, it was announced that 500 crore dollars would be invested in next five years. But, just a couple of days back the Foxconn chief Terry Gou had said that the company would be investing 200 billion dollars in India and they intend to invest in all states,” Chavan pointed out.
He further said, “I hope this doesn’t turn out to be one more exaggerated statement – something typical of Modi.”
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