Foxconn is ready to invest up to Rs. 32,000cr in India to make it a parallel manufacturing hub to China.
In future, Foxconn would export manufactured products to key markets across Europe and the US from its Indian hub.
It's an aftermath of GST and imposition of import duty on smartphones, which has made sourcing from overseas a costly affair.
India was already in the firm's priority list
BusinessAn official of the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics said to TOI, the firm is planning to increase Indian operations in an "exponential manner."
He said that India was already on the firm's priority list. The firm is now going ahead with its plan of making substantial investments and increasing business interests in the country by opening new factories and expanding manufacturing footprint.
GST, import duty were deciding factors
FoxconnThe official also informed that the decision of having an import duty on phones and other key peripherals by the government acted as "confidence booster" for Foxconn and its partners.
GST was also a deciding factor in the expansion plan. "The real investments will start to flow in after this year," he said.
Major employment opportunities will arise out of this expansion plan.
Future plans in India
ProductionFoxconn is currently negotiating with state governments for setting up factories. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, and Telangana are supposedly on its list of preferred states.
The majority of investment i.e. around $3 billion will go for display fab production. Around $250 million will go into mechanics, such as CNC alongside major investments in lithium-ion cell factory and printed circuit boards (PCB) facilities.
Expectations from the government
DevicesFoxconn currently has a production capacity of four million devices per month in India. It manufactures phones for InFocus, Oppo, Xiaomi, Nokia, and Gionee.
Post-investment, Foxconn is looking at manufacturing capacity of at least 10 million units per month initially.
Pertaining to exports, the official said that the firm wanted a model where it can get benefits of SEZ in a domestic traffic area.
