Siddaramaiah holds talks with Foxconn CEO

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday chaired a high-level meeting with the Foxconn Industrial Internet (Fii) a subsidiary of i-phone maker Foxconn CEO Brand Cheng led delegation, regarding the proposal to set up another supplementary plant to that of the unit at Devanahalli ITIR region.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the State owns an ecosystem to enable the growth of industries and there exists coordination between academia and Industries.

Assuring, that the government would take the initiative to make available human resources with the required skill sets, he offered the leadership team of the company led by its CEO Brand Cheng to set up the unit in the state.

Large and Medium Industries Minister MB Patil said that the government would extend all cooperation for the proposed projects. He said that the government was ready to consider other proposals of the company such as setting up a semiconductor manufacturing unit if it comes forward.

As per the proposal, Foxconn Industrial Internet (Fii), a subsidiary of Foxconn, has a plan to invest Rs. 8,800 Crore. This would create 14,000 jobs and the land required for the project is about 100 acres. The delegates of the company will be taken to Tumakuru to examine the available land at Japan Industrial Township in Tumakuru today (Monday) itself.

Fii will engage in manufacturing screens, and outer coverings apart from making mechanical components needed for phones. This would operate as a supplementary plant to the end assembly unit at Devanahalli.

Michel Ling, Jason Lau, Angie Lein, Bharath Dandi from Fii, ACS to Chief Minister Rajaneesh Goel, Industries Department Principal Secretary Selva Kumar, and Commissioner Gunjan Krishna were present. IT/BT Minister Priyankal Kharge and Chief Secretary to the Government Vandita Sharma were present in the meeting convened at Vidhana Soudha.

The Karnataka government had recently announced that the legal hurdles to hand over 300 acres of land to the Taiwanese chip making giant was cleared and very soon the land would be handed over to the company.

Minister Patil also had announced that the company would start production by next April.

“A total of 300 acres will be given to the company in the ITIR (IT Investment Region) spread over Devanahalli and Doddaballapur taluks. The company would invest around Rs. 8,500 Crore to set up a manufacturing plant. The company can commence construction work immediately after the handing over of the land,” he had said. The government is facilitating the commissioning of the project which would provide 50,000 jobs, he added.