By Abid Hasan
Taiwan based contract manufacturer of electronics is upbeat about their India presence. The company is in the expansion mode and looking for bigger opportunities to consolidate their footprint in the country.
In a recent development on the condition of anonymity, one of the top executives of Foxconn said, “We are looking to open a factory in North India”.
Earlier this year, Foxconn promised of investing around Rs 32,000 crores in India and this could be the first step towards their giant leap. For them, Mobile phones and televisions are the core key focus areas for next year.
“We have grown 500 % last year and the next year we are confident of growing 100 %.” The source said. The electronics manufacturer is riding on the back of government phased manufacturing program and feels it is one of the key enablers of government’s make in India program.
When asked, if the company faced any hurdle due to government’s move such as GST or demonetization?. The executive replied, target revenue was on track and things like GST, Demonetization or Aadhar are government’s step towards maintaining traceability and confidentiality in the system.
The anonymous source also said, the government is doing its bit for the electronic industry and the net-zero import by 2020 is practically achievable. “Recently, the government has launched MEIS scheme and it will please all the manufacturers because the incentive on export has been increased from 2 % to 4%.”
The increase in percentage has just been announced and it will take some time to execute. Foxconn sees the Indian market with high potential.
On the other hand, media reports suggest that Foxconn is backtracking its ambitious project in Maharashtra. Recently, state industries minister of Maharashtra, Subhash Desai has said that there has been no progress in investments from Foxconn in Maharashtra. The above-stated source denied any such backtracking and mentioned that currently, Foxconn has two factories running in Maharashtra.
