Foxconn buys 300-acre site in Indian tech-hub Bengaluru

The 1.2 million-square-metre acquisition was announced in a statement to the London Stock Exchange

Looking to diversify its production away from China, iPhone maker Foxconn has bought 300 acres at Devanahalli, near Bengaluru airport, the Taiwanese multinational company informed in a filing to the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The Tucheng-headquartered company is pitching Rs 300 crore for the 1,214,058 square metre site located in the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR), through its India arm Foxconn Hon Hai Technology India Mega Development, the filing added.

"The project has been approved by the high-level committee of Foxconn, the land is under the process of transferring to them from KIADB. The land will be acquired by KIADB from the farmers and further allotted to Foxconn, which is already under process. Foxconn has to make payment for that. The process of transferring is almost complete,” an official at the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board told DH.

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Earlier in March, poll-bound Karnataka state chief minister Basavaraj S. Bommai and Union minister of state for entrepreneurship, electronics and technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that Apple would "soon" manufacture iPhones at a new plant in the state, creating about one lakh jobs. The Karnataka government signed a mega memorandum of understanding with Foxconn, with the firm committing to investing Rs 8,000 crore in a mobile manufacturing unit to ramp up local production.

This came after the company had stated on March 4, that it had not entered into any binding, definitive agreements for new investments in India despite signing a letter of intent with the Karnataka government on March 3.

Gunjan Krishna, Commissioner for Industrial Development and Director, Department of Industries and Commerce, Karnataka government did not respond to DH’s queries seeking comments citing elections.

Foxconn has manufactured Apple handsets in India since 2019 at its plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Apple is now strengthening its roots in India as its CEO Tim Cook indicated last month when he was in the country to open the brand's first two retail stores in Mumbai and the national capital. The California-based firm is betting big on India, which is home to the second-highest number of smartphone users in the world, after China.