NEW DELHI: India is on the radar of global electronics manufacturers. After the entry of top contract manufacturer Foxconn, it’s the turn of the $20 billion Taiwanese maker Wistron Corp to tap into the country.
Wistron, which makes devices for companies such as Blackberry, HTC and Motorola, has partnered homegrown telecom retailer and manufacturer Optiemus for making mobile devices.
The two companies will be manufacturing the devices at a new factory in Noida in Uttar Pradesh where they are targeting investments of $200 million. “We will start with an annual capacity of 18 million devices, and plan to ramp this up to 100 million over the next 3-5 years,” Ravinder Zutshi, MD of Optiemus told TOI here. “The government’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, coupled with the country’s growing consumption, makes an excellent case for the Indian manufacturing sector to emerge as a global manufacturing hub across sectors.”
HTC’s entire portfolio of devices will be made in this factory and Zutshi – a former Deputy MD with Samsung’s India subsidiary — said that there are plans to contract-manufacture for other companies too. “This is just the beginning. We are in discussions with other players as well.”
The entry of Foxconn and Wistron is a major booster to the government’s plans to make India a global electronics manufacturing hub. India, which has doled out sops for companies making in the country while hiking import duty, hopes to counter China’s dominance in manufacturing through such investments.
Foxconn has already announced aggressive plans for India and could be a vehicle for contract-making devices for American electronics giant Apple in the market.
“This would be a great example of make in India with a Taiwanese company entering into a JV in India to make mobile phones, TVs not only for the domestic market but to capture share in the rest of the world,” Department Of Industrial Policy & Promotion Secretary Amitabh Kant said.
He said that China is a leading manufacturing destination because of investments made by Taiwanese companies. “To my mind, this JV will contribute in further developing the manufacturing eco-system in India. I believe this JV will lead to setting up of various facilities across the country. It should manufacture all brands in India,” Kant said.
Robert Hwang, President and COO of Wistron, said the company is looking at a big opportunity in India. “We are excited to enter the world’s fastest growing smartphone market with Optiemus. We are confident that by leveraging each other’s strengths, we will be able to bring innovation and value at a faster pace to the end consumers.”
Optiemus offers product distribution and after-sales service. The company has partnered UniverCell and partnered with Vodafone for retail facility. “We also have our own retail brand Mobiliti which has its own 105 shops,” Zutshi said.
