UP Government ropes in Rs 5k cr investment for mobile manufacturing units

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government yesterday secured investment deals valued at Rs 5,000 crore with companies like Samsung, Spice Mobiles, Lava and cellular associations for setting up mobile manufacturing units in the state.

“We want to make the state a mobile manufacturing hub,” said Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav during the inauguration of Samsung’s Rs 517-crore expansion plant in Noida.

Mobile handsets maker Samsung is looking to strengthen its presence in the state with its investment. “The Chief Minister’s policy has given us the opportunity to expand our manufacturing base here,” said Hyun Chil Hong, President and CEO of Samsung India. The company’s Noida plant employs 11,000 people and will be the main manufacturing hub for its new Tizen phone Z1, he added.

Domestic handsets company Spice Mobile said it planned to invest Rs 500 crore in two plants in Greater Noida and Modipur, Rampur. “Our group has a very old association with the state and we hope to start manufacturing by end of this year, said Dilip Modi, Chairman, Spice Group.

The company is also looking to bring in technology transfer from their existing vendors and partners in China. “We want to bring the entire component manufacturing eco system so that entrepreneurship gets a fillip and the devices are Made-in-India,” said Modi. The plant will start manufacturing 1-2 million devices per month from December 2015.

Lava International committed Rs 600 crore over a period of three years for a manufacturing unit along the Yamuna Expressway. “Till now our manufacturing was outsourced to China but we will now set up our own production unit in UP,” said Hari Om Rai, Managing Director of Lava.

Besides the three mobile companies, the Indian Cellular Association (ICA), Electronic Industry Association of India (ELCINA) and India Electronics and Semiconductor Association ( IESA), have also committed investment of Rs 1,000 crore each in the Electronic Manufacturing Clusters along Yamuna Expressway and in Greater Noida, said Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan.

Together, these clusters are expected to generate employment for nearly 50,000 people.

EON Electric and Pactel were the other players who signed agreements promising investment of Rs 200 crore and Rs 500 crore respectively.