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Taiwanese contract electronic manufacturer Foxconn and the Tamil Nadu government had held talks about a month ago to explore the possibility of setting up a manufacturing facility in the state, senior government sources said. During the discussions, the firm explored options to convert its land near Chennai to a domestic tariff area (DTA), the sources added.
Foxconn, which recently announced $5 billion worth of investments in India and signed a memorandum of understanding with the Maharashtra government, has around 300 acres of land in Sriperumbudur near Chennai. During the talks, the company raised concerns over the labour protest in Tamil Nadu, sources noted. In response, the state government assured the firm that the labour situation in the state is peaceful. It also cited the examples of a number of foreign companies operating in Tamil Nadu without any labour issues. The 300 acres of land the company has in Sriperumbudur is different from the facility it has in the Nokia SEZ, which has been suspended after the Nokia unit became defunct. Confirming the meeting between Foxconn and the state government, C V Sankar, additional chief secretary to the government, industries department, said: “The talks are still on. We have not received any written communication regarding shifting of the land to DTA.” Earlier this month, Sony India had announced a deal with Competition Team Technology (India), a part of Foxconn Group, to manufacture Bravia TVs in India. The unit is located in Sriperumbudur.
Foxconn has been operating in Tamil Nadu for several years, after it set up its operations in Sriperumbudur to cater to the requirements of the erstwhile mobile phone manufacturing facility of Nokia India. Following the suspension of operations in the Nokia facility, the Foxconn facility located in the same SEZ was stopped and the workers were offered severance package.
