Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn Technology on Saturday said that it would invest $5 billion (roughly Rs 32,000 crore) in Maharashtra in the next five years after the state government agreed to allot it 1,500 acre land to set up a plant. The company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government cementing the deal.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the company will generate 50,000 jobs as a result of the MoU.
The Foxconn's facility in Maharashtra will be used for both research and development (R&D) and manufacturing purposes, company chairman Terry Gou said. The company selected Maharashtra as the state offers access to quality talent and software-hardware integration facilities besides being a financial centre, The Economic Times quoted Gou as saying.
Gou said Foxconn will work with local partners. "We are also looking for local partners in the country and have visited the plants of Tata Sons, TCS and Shapoorji Pallonji," he told The Times of India.
However, Gou said the MoU signed with the Maharashtra government is "different" from the partnership already announced with Gujarat-based Adani Group.
On Wednesday, Gou had said that Foxconn was looking to partner with billionaire Gautam Adani's group to set up electronics manufacturing units in the country. Without mentioning the exact locations, Gou said the company was evaluating states, including Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra to set up its manufacturing facilities.
During his earlier visit, the Foxconn chairman had said that the company was planning to create a minimum of 1 million jobs in India by establishing 10-12 manufacturing units in the country by 2020.
Foxconn currently manufactures iPhones and iPads for Apple and Kindle e-book readers for Amazon Inc besides making electronic equipment for top global tech firms such as Cisco, Dell, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard.
