Taiwan-based contract electronics maker Wistron Corp.declared that a new joint production site located in India turned a profit in just one month after the plant began commercial production.
Hsu Hung-kuei, head of Wistron’s pan-America production operations division, exclaimed that his company boasts a strong production capability, which paved the way for the plant to become profitable. Wistron and Optiemus Infracom Ltd., a distributor of mobile brands and other telecommunications products in India, signed an agreement at the end of last year to set up a joint production plant to manufacture cellphones. The new production site launched mass production in late June.
Tien Chung-kwang,Taiwan’s representative to India, notified that Wistron’s new plant is a successful model for Taiwanese investors who want to set up a foothold in the South Asian country. He added that Wistron’s success was expected to encourage many of its counterparts to follow the Indian government’s “Make in India” policy.
The “New Southbound Policy” is an initiative of President Tsai Ing-wen’s administration to build closer ties with business partners in Southeast Asia and India, including the ambition of turning the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) into an extension of Taiwan’s domestic market.
The Wistron cellphone plant currently takes orders placed by Taiwan’s smartphone brand HTC Corp and China’s OPPO.
Hsu mentioned that Optiemus had run its own cellphone production lines in the past, but the production lines had been haunted by losses. Hsu said that after cooperation with Wistron, however, the new joint plant was able to turn a profit very quickly.
The joint venture has a capacity to roll out 600,000 cellphones per month, and is planning to expand its production to 2 million units next year.
Before Wistron, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, a Taiwanese assembler of iPhones and iPads, has poured large funds into India, aiming to set up 10-12 plants there by 2020.
By EB Bureau
