Samsung to invest ₹1,000 crore to expand troubled Sriperumbudur unit

Tamil Nadu government also announced a plan to set up an exclusive Taiwanese industrial park in Chennai that will target investments of Rs 10,000 crore from Taiwanese companies

Samsung India will invest ₹1,000 crore to expand its unit at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, the same unit that was hit by multiple strikes over the past seven months. The unit makes refrigerators, televisions, and washing machines and accounts for a fifth of the South Korean electronics manufacturer’s $12 billion sales in India.

 

“Samsung will make an additional investment of ₹1,000 crore in the existing facility in Sriperumbudur, creating 100 new jobs, reinforcing their (the company’s) faith in the labour force of Tamil Nadu,” state industries minister TRB Rajaa said on social media.

 

Samsung’s Sriperumbudur unit, which the company now seeks to expand, saw a 37-day strike last year that partially disrupted production. In February, another month-long strike by the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU)-backed Samsung India Workers’ Union (SIWU) seeking the withdrawal of suspension of 23 employees affected the unit’s operations.

 

 

Around 600 workers of SIWU have been staging protests within the unit’s premises since February 5, after the management suspended three office bearers of the CITU-backed union. According to a management source, the protests started when a group of employees tried to forcefully meet a top official at the unit, which resulted in disciplinary action. Later, 20 more employees were suspended.

 

Meanwhile, on Friday, the Tamil Nadu government announced a plan for an exclusive Taiwanese industrial park in Chennai, targeting investments of ₹10,000 crore from Taiwanese companies in electronic components, technical textiles, and footwear components, creating a potential 20,000 jobs. The state government is also planning to set up separate desks for its investment agency Guidance in US, Germany, South Korea, and Vietnam to provide direct support to investors from the countries.

 

Further, the government is also planning a mini-Tidel park in the industrially-backward Nagapattinam district to create 600 jobs in the information technology sector.

 

The government is also planning a State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Sipcot) industrial park on 450 acres land in Chinnasalem taluk, Kallakurichi district, which is expected to attract ₹650 crore in investment and create 9,000 jobs. Another Sipcot industrial park will be developed in Sankarankovil taluk in Tenkasi district across 150 acres, attracting ₹300 crore in investment and creating 3,000 new jobs.

 

Yet another Sipcot park will be set up in Karaikudi taluk, Sivagangai district across 100 acres of land to attract ₹200 crore in investment and create 2,000 new jobs. A fourth Sipcot industrial park has been planned at Katpadi taluk in Vellore district across 250 acres, attracting investments of ₹500 crore and creating 5,000 new jobs.

 

A non-leather footwear manufacturing plant is being planned in Natrampalli taluk, Tirupattur district across 125 acres, which is likely to attract ₹250 crore in investment and generate 2,500 jobs, mostly for women, the government said in a recent statement.

 

To develop the districts of Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Sivagangai, Ramanathapuram, and Thoothukudi into textile and apparel manufacturing hubs, plug-and-play facilities are being planned in collaboration with textile industry associations. And to meet the accommodation needs of industrial workers, 2,000-bedded housing facilities are being constructed at an estimated cost of ₹120 crore in Pillaipakkam, Oragadam, and Vallam Vadagal Industrial Estates in Kancheepuram district.