Wistron plans to increase workforce by 10-folds to 20,000 in two years

Wistron Infocomm, a contract manufacturer of Apple in India, plans to increase its workforce by about 10 times to around 20,000 people over the next two years, according to a source.

Wistron had last year received approval to invest around Rs 2,000 crore initially from the Karnataka government to raise mobile phone and Internet of things (IoT) devices production capacity to 75 lakh annually.

Besides, the board of the company on Wednesday more than doubled the equipment purchase investment limit to around Rs 1,300 crore from about Rs 550 crore earmarked earlier for expansion of its manufacturing capacity in India.

"Wistron currently has a little less than 2,000 employees. By the end of this year, we plan to hire about 8,000 people. This will take a total of around 20,000 people by the end of next financial year," the source told PTI.

Under the recently announced product link incentive scheme for electronics sector, Wistron has the potential to get incentives of around Rs 7,500 crore if it scales up production to about Rs 1.5 lakh crore over the period of next five years.

The company manufactures iPhone 7 for Apple, IT products for Lenovo, Microsoft, among others.

The Taiwan-headquartered company has reached out to industry associations -- India Cellular and Electronics Association, Electronic Industries Association of India (ELCINA), Manufacturers' Association of Information Technology (MAIT) and other bodies for sourcing engineering and industry professionals as it looks to expand its manufacturing facilities.

"Wistron is looking for hiring across all kinds of electronic manufacturing talents, be it production specialist, shift manager, HR Manager, industry relations, engineering specialist, everything required to scale up operations," the source said.

The company is hiring through social media platforms and wants to make the entire process of hiring smooth so that candidates don't face any difficulty in applying for jobs.

"Wistron will also start issuing advertisements in leading newspapers soon for hiring engineers and skilled workers," the source added.