Pegatron, a Taiwanese company and one of Apple’s contracted manufacturers of the iPhone, has invested Rs.1,100 crore in the project which is expected to create nearly 14,000 jobs.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday, September 30, inaugurated the smart phone factory of Taiwan’s Pegatron Technology India Pvt Ltd in Mahindra World City in Chengalpattu district. Pegatron, a Taiwan headquartered company and one of Apple’s contracted manufacturers of the iPhone, has invested Rs 1,100 crore in this project and is expected to create nearly 14,000 jobs.This firm is the third Apple vendor to have set up a factory in India after Foxconn and Wistron. Pegatron has been running trial production of the iPhone for the last six to eight months.
In the ceremony, MK Stalin said Tamil Nadu contributes to 20% of India’s electronics production and also mentioned that companies like Salcomp, Dell, Bosch, Samsung, Foxconn, Tata Electronics etc. are operating their plants in Tamil Nadu. “Tamil Nadu will try to attract industries that have qualified under the Central government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme,” Stalin further added. He also requested officials of Pegatron to consider taking up expansion in Tamil Nadu.
“Tamil Nadu has been attracting investments not only in manufacturing of smartphones but also in computers, electronic parts, telecommunication equipment, home appliances. The government considers the electronics department as an emerging sector and soon Tamil Nadu’s electronic hardware policy will be rolled out to boost domestic electronic production and exports,” CM Stalin said. “With the production linked-incentive scheme, several software companies have submitted applications to commence operations in the state,” he further added.
At the event, Union Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar, along with ministers from Tamil Nadu were present. Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the Pegatron investment is a symbol of the partnership between the Union and state governments. “This partnership is to help India achieve the target of $300 billion in electronics manufacturing, from the current $75 billion,” he said. According to him, the PLI scheme has played a big role in attracting investments of about Rs 6,500 crore and employment for over 40,000 individuals in the electronics manufacturing sector in Tamil Nadu alone.
“Mobile phone exports in India, in 2015-16, were near zero. They have [now] reached around Rs 50,000 crore. India used to be heavily dependent on imports of mobile phones. In contrast, today, 97% of mobile phones used in India are products of domestic manufacturing,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.
With PTI and IANS inputs
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Source: The News Minute