The world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer Foxconn has rekindled interest in Odisha for a mobile manufacturing facility after a gap of over two years.
Foxconn eyeing Odisha as a possible location follows its marked delay in commissioning an electronics manufacturing plant in Maharashtra, where it pledged $5 billion investment with a promise to spawn around 50,000 jobs. The Taiwanese firm known for assembling the iconic iPhones, had inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government for the facility in August 2015. The massive project, however, has shown little signs of taking off at the ground. Foxconn’s India operations are in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu where it makes Xiaomi- and Nokia-branded handsets respectively.
Back in June 2016, Foxconn was eyeing a coastal site in Odisha to manufacture cellular handsets. The plan floated without gaining headway as the company authorities did not engage with the state government for official-level talks.
Recently, Josh Fougler, country head and managing director of Foxconn International Holding, India met the officials of the Odisha government. State officials made a detailed presentation about the eco-system of electronic system design and manufacturing (ESDM) sector and industry-friendly policies in the state.
Foxconn is yet to commit its investment size or manufacturing plans for Odisha as discussions are still incipient.
“Josh Fougler had a meeting with Sanjeev Chopra, principal secretary industries. The Odisha government is exploring possibilities of setting up manufacturing units for cell phones and other IT gadgets in the state”, an official source said.
Chopra was not immediately available for his feedback.
As a follow-up to the meeting, a delegation from the Odisha government is likely to visit Foxconn’s Chennai facility to study the ecosystem there. The visiting team would appraise the best of incentives that can be made available to Foxconn for installing a plant in Odisha.
The state government expects some announcement by the electronics manufacturer at the ensuing investment summit- ‘Make in Odisha’ to be held in Bhubaneswar from November 11-15 this year. At the same time, government officials are wary of other options being weighed by Foxconn.
“Based on initial talks, we are counting Foxconn as the third potential investor in mobile manufacturing domain in Odisha. We have got two proposals from investors who are open to put up their units at the electronics manufacturing cluster (EMC). But we know Foxconn is visiting other states and evaluating its options”, said an official source familiar with the development.
Leading distributor of mobile phones and accessories, StarGSM Cellular India Pvt Ltd, has evinced interest in setting up a mobile manufacturing unit in Odisha. StarGSM will make mobiles along with components like chargers and power banks at the EMC (electronics manufacturing cluster) proposed at Info Valley, a dedicated park of located at the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. Kolkata-based Rashmi Group, too, is in talks with the state government for setting up a mobile manufacturing unit at the EMC.
The state government has already declared a special incentive package scheme to lure investments in electronics by giving additional incentives on capital investment subsidy, human capital investment subsidy, power incentives, water incentives and interest subsidy over and above the promises made in its Information and Communications Technology Policy-2014.