Foxconn says looking at long-term investments in India

Foxconn Founder and Chairman Terry Gou on Tuesday said that he was looking at India with a more than ten years timeframe in mind, but had not firmed up investment figures yet.

Taiwan-based Foxconn, the trade name for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, is the world's largest contract maker of electronic products and counts Apple, Blackberry, Xiaomi and Amazon among clients.

Gou told Reuters in May he aims to develop 10-12 facilities in India, including factories and data centres, by 2020. Foxconn is in talks with Adani group and other Indian firms to set up manufacturing factories in India.

Gou, on his second visit to India in 45 days, said his company was "very keen to invest" in the country and is in talks to strike partnership with local companies.

Gou, who also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day, said Foxconn is in talks with billionaire Gautam Adani's Group for electronics manufacturing facilities. The Taiwanese firm is also working with Micromax and Snapdeal.

"We are working closely with Micromax, Snapdeal and Adani Group", he said.

Gou has visited Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat to scout for possible locations for the facilities.

The Foxconn chief said they just don't want to assemble products but play a larger role in the whole supply chain.

The company is looking at manufacturing LED TVs, batteries and other electronics products in India.

Foxconn plans to set up manufacturing units in India, the nation with second-highest number of mobile phone accounts behind China, to mitigate rising labour costs in China and lower manufacturing cost of iPhones.

Earlier in the day, Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the Adani Group, said it was in talks with the Foxconn to form a joint venture (JV).

"We are at the discussion stage only and have not signed any agreement which requires disclosure under Clause 36 of the Listing Agreement," it said in a regulatory filing.

The company, however, did not clarify on the nature of the JV or the products that it will manufacture.

But sources said that Adani Enterprises will partner with the Foxconn to set up a facility to manufacture iPhones in India at Adani's SEZ in Mundra, Gujarat and the land component will be provided by the company.

Shares of the company on Tuesday settled at Rs 94.40 apiece, higher by 11.32 per cent from its previous Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closing.

The Foxconn chief said he also wants to participate in government programmes like Digital India, Skill India and Make in India among others.

"We want to invest in clean India and for that we are in talks with Greendust. We are about to close agreement but it is not final yet. They have a idea of recycling and selling refurbished brand. If we work together we may transfer our technology to them", he said.

Asked about investment in e-commerce, he said it brings components and products close to customers.

"In India we just don't want to limit ourselves to manufacturing but want to apply new technology like industry 4.0. You have strength in software, we will merge it with our hardware expertise," he said.