Taiwan-based Foxconn, one of the largest contract manufacturing companies in the world and a top supplier of Apple products, is investing USD500 million in a plant to be set up near Hyderabad, capital of the southern Indian state of Telangana. The investment is expected to generate 25,000 new jobs in the state, in the first phase alone.
Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in June 2014 after many years of striving for statehood. It has been talking business since then, positioning itself as one of the top investment destinations in India.
Last evening, KT Rama Rao (aka “KTR”), Minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development; Industries and Commerce; and Information Technology, Electronics and Communications of Telangana, posted on Twitter: “Ushering in a New Era in Electronics manufacturing in Telangana, broke ground for the Foxconn Interconnect Technology manufacturing unit along with Chairman & CEO Mr. Sidney Lu (sic).” A photo of KTR and Sidney Lu shovelling soil as part of the groundbreaking ceremony was published.
In a post yesterday morning, KTR had tweeted about “demonstrating the Telangana speed”, announcing “the groundbreaking of [the] first of Foxconn’s plants in Telangana at Kongar Kalaan today”.
This tweet was accompanied by a photo that showed KTR with his father and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (aka “KCR”) with a Taiwanese delegation led by Young Liu, Chairman, Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn).
The Memorandum of Understanding for the Foxconn plant in Telangana was signed on March 2, 2023, said KTR in a news video. He said that his state officials “deserve a huge round of applause” for the speed with which they helped take the project from the MoU stage to the groundbreaking stage.
Following the March meeting between KCR and the Taiwanese delegation, and the discussion about setting up a manufacturing facility in the state, the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation allocated 196 acres of land to Foxconn.
According to a report in The Indian Express, KCR said that his “government is on a mission to transform Telangana for the better and has undertaken several marquee projects to realise the vision of Bangaru Telangana”. The chief minister added, “Foxconn’s unit will help generate large-scale employment to youth and will help in attracting more such industries to the state.”
Young Liu had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi a year ago, in June 2022, and they had discussed the Taiwanese manufacturing giant collaborating with India on making semi-conductors and electric vehicles.
