Tata Group Plans to Set Up New Mobile Phone Manufacturing Plant In Tamil Nadu

been allotted 500 acres by Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) to set up the plant to manufacture mobile phones and components. The number of mobile phone manufacturing/assembling plants has increased from just two in 2014 to around 100 in 2019. With companies including Apple looking to have another unit outside China, Tata Group plans to capitalize on this opportunity to woo mobile makers such as Apple to alternative production sites in India as they seek to diversify out of China.

Besides catering to Apple's sourcing needs, Tata's will also try to meet other global OEMs' requirements to promote India as an alternative to China in becoming a global manufacturing hub for electronics manufacturing. Titan Engineering and Automation Ltd (TEAL), Titan Co Ltd's precision engineering division, is learned to have been roped in to provide the expertise for this project, which will have a staff strength of 18,000 by October 2021, mostly women.

The government has got a good response for its PLI scheme from global players such as Wistron, Pegatron, Foxconn and Hon Hai from Taiwan, Samsung from South Korea, and companies from Germany and Austria. Foxconn, Hon Hai, Wistron, and Pegatron are contract manufacturers for Apple's iPhones. Among Indian firms, Lava, Dixon, Micromax, Padget Electronics, Sojo, UTL, and Optiemus have applied for benefits under the government's PLI scheme.