Foxconn gets govt nod for phone unit near Bengaluru

The Basavaraj Bommai administration on Monday approved Taiwanese giant Foxconn's proposal to invest Rs 8,000 crore on establishing a mobile phone manufacturing unit near Bengaluru, a project the government said would create 50,000 jobs.

The project was approved in the State High Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC) meeting chaired by chief minister Bommai. In all, the SHLCC approved 18 projects worth Rs 75,393 crore generating 77,606 jobs, the government said.

The Foxconn manufacturing unit, plausibly to make Apple iPhones, will come up on a 300-acre parcel in the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) at Doddaballapur and Devanahalli taluks. Foxconn will invest Rs 8,000 crore in three phases.

Read | Apple supplier Foxconn wins AirPod order, plans $200 mn factory in India

This formalises a deal that was shrouded by uncertainty after Foxconn said it had not signed any “binding, definitive agreements” in India, only to put Bommai in the dock because he had announced that the company would start making iPhones in the state.

According to details accessed by DH, the proposed Foxconn facility will have a production capacity of one lakh mobile phones by December 2025 and touch two crore by December 2029. Foxconn is expected to invest Rs 3,000 crore in the first phase during the 2023-24 fiscal, Rs 4,000 crore in the second 2025-26 phase and Rs 1,000 crore in the last phase during 2026-27.

In a statement, Bommai said proposals on green hydrogen, ethanol production, wind energy, electrical and electronics assembly, lithium batteries, electric vehicles, cement and steel were approved. "Karnataka’s contribution to the manufacturing sector will be remarkable in the country," he said.

The SHLCC approved Ather Energy's plan to invest Rs 504 crore to start making electric two-wheelers in Bengaluru Rural, which promises to create 1,300 jobs.

Other investments include Amplus Active Private Ltd, a Gurugram-based company that will invest Rs 34,000 crore to set up power plants including renewable energy plants in the Mangaluru SEZ. Mumbai-based Epsilon C2GR Private Ltd has proposed setting up a 'LIB Anode Material' plant at Sandur.

UltraTech Cement, Ayana Renewable Power Six Pvt Ltd, Ramco Cements, TATA Advanced Systems Ltd, Advanced System in Package Technologies Pvt Ltd, Schneider Electric, SLR Metaliks Ltd, Ratna Cements, Vishwaraj Sugar Industries Ltd, Nirani Sugars Ltd, Trualt Bioenergy Ltd, Hyunet Pvt Ltd, Vani Vilas Cement Pvt Ltd and Nsure Reliable Power Solutions Pvt Ltd were among other clearances.