Telangana, K’taka & Andhra Pradesh Offer Land Parcels To Woo Foxconn

At least three different state governments in South India are reportedly offering sops and land parcels to electronics manufacturer Foxconn to set up a facility in their respective regions. 

Telangana IT and industries minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu told Economic Times that the local government has offered 2,000 acres of land to the company to set up a base in the state. 

Meanwhile, sources told the publication that while the Andhra Pradesh government has offered 2,500 acres of land to build an industrial park, Karnataka authorities have offered 300 acres of land for a “supplier park”.

“Karnataka is offering Foxconn about 300 acres to set up a supplier park where they can have their vendors in one space… Nothing has been finalised yet, but talks are on with the company to build this facility. It was also discussed during chairman Liu’s visit to India,” a source reportedly said. 

Without disclosing the exact location of these land parcels, Babu said that the project would entail building a ‘Foxconn City’ modelled on the lines of the Apple vendor’s facilities in its home country Taiwan as well as in China.

“Recently, our chief minister met the chairman of Foxconn, who expressed a strong interest in establishing a Foxconn City… In response, our government has offered approximately 2,000 acres for this purpose. The proposal is – they will develop the land as per their requirement. Therefore, these areas may also be utilised for their subsidiaries,” Babu reportedly added. 

He added that there was a “possibility” that Foxconn may offer parts of the land to their suppliers, which could include companies from Taiwan, China, or the US. As per Babu, the company has reportedly “indicated” that it will send a research team to Telangana likely later this week to assess the land.

The developments come a couple of weeks after Foxconn chairman Young Liu, during the inauguration of the company’s housing facility in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur, said that the electronics manufacturer was mulling building an ‘industrial township’ near Chennai.

Owing to this, the three southern states have called on the company to set up similar “parks” or a “Foxconn City” in their respective states.

“The Industrial Infrastructure Corporation manages several land parcels in Telangana and we encourage Foxconn to explore options in Tier-II and Tier-III cities as well. If the company decides to select land near Hyderabad in a Tier-II town, we will be able to easily facilitate the process,” Telangana IT Minister reportedly said.

It is pertinent to note that Foxconn currently has facilities in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur and Andhra Pradesh’s Sri City and an upcoming facility in Karnataka. While these operational units manufacture iPhones, the company has underlined plans to manufacture components for information and communication technology (ICT) and electric vehicles (EVs) in India. 

In a bid to cater to these upcoming plans, Telangana government is pitching a proposal that is modelled on Foxconn facilities in China’s Zhengzhou, beyond a mere industrial park in the state.

One of Foxconn’s largest units, the Zhengzhou facility houses a factory, dormitories, hospitals, a fire station, movie theatres, supermarkets, and cafes. As per reports, the Foxconn City in Zhengzhou can accommodate as many as 3 Lakh to 4 Lakh workers.

The move comes at a time when Foxconn has been diversifying its operations outside China as geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington DC continue to simmer. India has emerged as a destination of choice owing to hefty sops and production-linked-incentives (PLIs) offered by the Centre. 

Just days ago, the Singapore arm of the company bought 1,203 Bn ordinary shares in its Indian unit for around $144 Mn, ET reported. Additionally, the company recently said that it has pumped more than $10 Bn worth of investments in the country so far.