Wistron to resume its operations in Karnataka soon, company tells govt

Apple's contract manufacturer Wistron will resume operations at its Narasapura facility soon, a delegation from the company told Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar on Thursday.

Wistron's iPhone manufacturing plant at Narasapura in Kolar, about 50 km from Bengaluru, was shut in December 2020 after workers went on a rampage at the facility.

A Wistron team led by managing director Sudipto Gupta met Shettar at Vidhana Soudha and told him that the company had started recruitment and preparations were on to restart production. "Production work will resume soon," the company told Shettar, according to a release from the minister’s office.

The Taiwanese company also thanked Shettar for the government's support in the aftermath of the violence.

During the meeting, Shettar expressed regret over the violence. "But, Karnataka being an industry-friendly state has always strived to provide a conducive atmosphere for industrial activity," the minister was quoted as having said. "The state government and the industries department will continue all kinds of support," he added and urged Wistron to recruit people from other districts of the state as well.

Following the violence, Apple put Wistron on probation and said that it will no longer receive any new business "before they complete corrective actions." Apple had said that preliminary findings into the violence indicated violations of its Supplier Code of Conduct by "failing to implement proper working hour management processes."

After the incident, the state government appointed Additional DGP (law and order) Pratap Reddy as the superintendent for the ongoing police probe.