Make in India: Foxconn, Adani may tie up for manufacturing; eye four electronics plants In India

BENGALURU|MUMBAI: Foxconn plans to partner with the Adani Group to set up at least four electronics manufacturing facilities in India, sources told TOI. Top executives of Foxconn, the Taiwanese company best known for making Apple devices, are said to have visited Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat earlier this month to look at possible locations for the facilities.

Sources in the Karnataka government told TOI that Vincent Tong Wen-Hsin, chairman and director of investments at FIH (Foxconn International Holdings) Mobile, and Calvin Chih, CEO of the company , had detailed discussions with the government on the matter.

“It could become a $5-billion investment. They visited some other states too. We are hoping that Karnataka's talent pool and fiscal incentives would make them decide to locate a facility here,“ a government official, who did not want to be named, said.

When contacted, Pranav Adani, director in Adani En terprises -the flagship company of the Adani Group -and nephew of Adani Group founder Gautam Adani, told TOI he had no comments to offer. The Ahmedabad-based group is a multinational conglomerate with interests in commodities, logistics, agribusiness and energy .

In May , Foxconn group chairman Terry Gou told news agency Reuters that the group was looking at developing 10-12 facilities in India, including factories and data centres by 2020. “A lot of our customers, especially Chinese customers, need us to manufacture ... in India, to make phones, tablets, TVs, as soon as possible,“ Gou had said.

A Karnataka government official said, “We are talking to Foxconn almost every week to get them to Karnataka. Under our mega projects policy , we can tailor-make incentives for them.“ Foxconn has already begun work on a small facility in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh that is expected to make about 10,000 phones a day , largely for Chinese brand Xiaomi.

In China, Foxconn makes phones for a number of global brands, including Apple, Motorola, Huawei, BlackBerry , and Sony . The company is keen to manufacture in India for Indian and global brands.

Foxconn had established assembly lines for phones in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in 2010. But a combination of poor industrial relations and lack of political support forced Foxconn to shut the facility. It appears to be putting that chapter well behind it.