Foxconn kicks off manufacturing smartphones in its Indian plant

Taking a step towards making India a manufacturing hub, Foxconn Technology Group has started manufacturing smartphones at its new plant in Andhra Pradesh for China's Xiaomi and US phone brand InFocus.

Vincent WH Tong, chairman of FIH Mobile, Foxconn's phone manufacturing unit, told ET that the company will ramp up the production capacity of the plant, located in the state's 7,000-acre Sri City special economic zone, and will bring it at par with its manufacturing units in other countries.

"It (manufacturing) has just started and is moving as we speak. Actually, compared to our capacities elsewhere, it is not that big a scale. In the long run, we intend to grow the facility further," he said.

The chairman declined to comment on the quantity of phones being manufactured from the factory for Xiaomi and InFocus.

ET had reported in its June 24 edition that the Sri City unit - called Rising Star - will make about 10,000 phones a day, which is small compared with Foxconn's much larger units in China. The plant has been set up at an investment of Rs 77 crore.

Tong said the company is talking to multiple customers to make phones from the same facility, without sharing names of possible clients.

Chinese smartphone leader Xiaomi has publicly shared its plans to make phones in the country, but India head Manu Jain said the company is still finalising its manufacturing plans, when asked whether it was getting smartphones made from Foxconn's new unit.

US-based InFocus started selling its M330 model priced at Rs 9,999 in India in March through an exclusive partnership with Snapdeal.

Foxconn, the maker of iPhones and iPads for Apple and Kindles for Amazon, plans to create at least a million jobs by setting up 10-12 manufacturing facilities in India by 2020, chairman Terry Gou said during a recent visit.
(Image: Indiatimes)