Foxconn not giving jobs to locals: Karnataka BJP MLA

Dheeraj Muniraj claimed that Foxconn, which has promised up to one lakh jobs, is mostly employing people from other states.

Bengaluru: Taiwan's Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker, is not providing jobs to locals at its cell phone manufacturing facility near Bengaluru, Doddaballapur BJP lawmaker Dheeraj Muniraj complained in the Assembly on Wednesday.

Foxconn, a key Apple supplier, will make iPhones at its facility located on a 300-acre plot in the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) at Doddaballapur and Devanahalli taluks.

In his 2025-26 Budget, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Foxconn has started its manufacturing plant in Devanahalli with a capital investment of Rs 21,911 crore. “This company will be provided with an incentive of Rs 6,970 crore,” the CM has announced.

Speaking on the Budget, Muniraj said 25,000 people are working at the Foxconn facility. “But how many of them are from my taluk? How many of them are land-losing farmers?” he said, adding that not even 500 people from Doddaballapur have been given jobs.

Muniraj claimed that Foxconn, which has promised up to one lakh jobs, is mostly employing people from other states.

Muniraj asked the government to make it mandatory for industries coming up on KIADB land to recruit students from local state-run colleges.

“The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) has acquired 6,000 acres and 1,500 acres in Doddaballapur has been reserved as an IT/BT zone,” Muniraj, the Karnataka BJP Yuva Morcha president, said.

“In the Doddaballapur government first grade college, 1,300 students graduate every year. The government should frame new rules that upcoming industries in KIADB land must give jobs to local students and people from that taluk or district,” Muniraj said.