NEW DELHI: Foxconn, the world's largest contract manufacturer, is aiming to begin exports to the Middle East and African countries by December from India as it begins talking to suppliers to set up base in the fastest growing smartphone market in the world.
The Taiwanese phone and electronics maker is stepping up expansion of its manufacturing facility in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, while scouting for more locations including Tirupati in the same state, besides states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Delhi NCR. If the plan fructifies, Foxconn would be much ahead of Samsung's target of exporting from India by 2020.
"Foxconn will begin exporting by December, could be earlier. They will have reasonable capacity to export. To begin with, exports will be to Middle East and Africa," said a person aware of the company's strategy in India. "Over the next year or so, Foxconn is aiming for its suppliers to set up base here so they can feed into the local production chain which it will create for exports".
Part of the volumes may well come from Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio. Foxconn is talks with Reliance Jio to make the much-awaited 4G Volte feature phone in India. People aware of Jio's plans say the first lot of nearly 18-20 million is likely to be brought in from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in China.
Additionally, the new telecom entrant is in talks with Foxconn to finalise an order for 8-10 million devices a month from its local plants. Jio declined to offer comment on ET's emailed queries. In an emailed statement, Foxconn said it "follows a strict company policy of not commenting on any matters related to current or potential customers, or any of their products."
"Depending on what their customers say, the quantum of exports could be a majority of what it makes in India which it set to double to 6 million units a month or more than 70 million a year," the first person said. At this rate, Foxconn may well become the largest phone manufacturer in India, beating Samsung, said industry insiders. Samsung has pledged investments of nearly Rs 4,915 crore over next three years to double its local production capacity to 12-13 million a year, with the intention of ..
Industry insiders said Foxconn, which makes iPhones for Apple out of China, will accelerate discussions with several component suppliers - on and off talks have been on for a year - over next couple of months, now that the government has assured protection to local manufacturing through basic customs duty of 10% and created a roadmap for local production of components coupled with tax incentives and benefits.
Foxconn Technology Group told ET it won't comment on the company's plans "for reasons of commercial sensitivity." The company has so far invested over $600 million into India, including its investments into e-commerce platforms Snapdeal and messaging app Hike. This amount excludes the nearly $5 billion in partnership with the government of Maharashtra promised in late 2015.
Source: Economictimes.indiatimes.com
