Large and Medium Industries Minister M.B. Patil on Thursday said that Foxconn plans to start manufacturing iPhone units by April, 2024, at its proposed Devanahalli plant as the State government would be handing over the required land by July 1 this year.
Meeting with representatives
“The identified 300 acres of land at ITIR in Devanahalli would be handed over by July 1. Along with this, the Government would ensure 5 MLD of water, quality power supply, road connectivity and other infrastructure facilities,” Mr. Patil said, after meeting representatives of the company, who were on a courtesy call. IT & BT Minister Priyank Kharge was also present.
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Mr. Patil said, “Foxconn has been asked to provide details of the skill sets it seeks from employees. Accordingly, steps will be taken to facilitate training programmes for eligible candidates to make them employable.”
A release from his office said that with this, the new government has speeded up the process of setting up the ₹13,600 crore project that is expected to generate 50,000 jobs. It said that the Taiwan–based global company has already paid 30% of the cost towards the land to KIADB. It has set the goal to complete the project in three phases and has set a target of manufacturing 2 crore units annually from the plant when all the three phases are functional.
The background
A delegation of top executives of Hon Hai Corporation (Foxconn) had signed a letter of intent with Karnataka government in the first week of March, 2023, to set up a factory at Devanahalli. While the project is also about manufacturing EVs and electronics among others, statements by politicians about iPhone manufacturing had led the company to clarify on its investments, days after the letter of intent was signed, causing embarrassment to the then BJP dispensation.
The clarification had come in the backdrop of corporate governance issues and also due to strict market regulator in Taiwan.
