Foxconn meets ministerial delegation from Maharashtra

A high-powered delegation from Maharashtra led by Subhash Desai, cabinet minister of Industries, Baldev Singh, additional chief secretary (Industries) and Dr P Anbalagan, CEO, MIDC met with Young Liu, chairman, Foxconn to discuss advanced investment plans in the semiconductor and consumer electronics segments.

Foxconn, the largest and most globally trusted electronics manufacturer in the world and 22nd in the list of Fortune 500 companies is expanding into semiconductor manufacturing and is exploring the South Asian market for its next venture to build for the world. To this effect, Foxconn held successful rounds of meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister for Electronics and IT.

In the last two years, arguably the toughest years for businesses worldwide, Maharashtra secured more than Rs 6 lac crore (US $80 + billion) worth of investments and has also allocated world class industrial land, infrastructure, and facilities to more than 80 per cent of these investors in record time. With pioneering policies that are both lucrative to the investor and strengthen the state’s sectoral value addition, manufacturing and skilling ecosystems, Foxconn’s vision for the future closely aligns with the state’s goal of attracting global partners with a long term vision.

Pune has emerged as the most natural choice for Foxconn with one of the best talent pool, industrial ecosystem, consumer base and residential spaces in Asia. Foxconn will be joining a league of global OEMs and world class suppliers and will partner with the state to build the world’s electronics and supply chain backbone.

The state delegation also comprised of Ajit Patil and Ranga Naik, Joint CEOs at MIDC, who held focus group discussions with specialists from Foxconn in the sectors of ICT, electric vehicles, mobility, and battery manufacturing. Industry champions from these sectors who have already invested in the state such as WIPRO, Honeywell, Mitsubishi, Causis E-Mobility, Tata Motors and Exide, shared their investment experience, discussed localisation and sourcing options and paved the way for stronger value chain integration with Foxconn.

After the meeting, Desai said: “We will provide full institutional support to Foxconn from the state government and ensure the development of a hi-tech ecosystem that is also socially conscious and brings tremendous skilled employment to the country. We have sharpened our focus on realising strategic investments and have been able to generate more than 4 lakh jobs in the last two years and we hope to partner with Foxconn to ensure sustainable job creation of high value talent in the state."

Liu expressed enthusiasm to find synergies of scale with Maharashtra and jointly develop world class talent and products geared towards the future.