The Indian government plans to offer subsidized loans to mobile handset manufacturers in a bid to attract Apple and Samsung suppliers to open factories in the nation. As part of this project, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology plans to offer interest subsidies on local borrowing by manufacturers, Bloomberg reports. These proposals may be included in the federal budget to be announced on 1 February, an unnamed official source said.
These proposals also include the deployment of industrial zones equipped with taxation and customs clearance, along with infrastructure such as roads, power and water supply, the source added. According to the same official source, these proposals have been forwarded to the Finance Ministry but no decision has been taken yet.
India plans to make USD 190 billion worth of mobile phones by 2025. The country currently produces mobile phones worth around USD 24 billion.
Foxconn already has two factories in the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where it produced devices for Xiaomi and Nokia.
Back in 2018, Xiaomi said its key component supplier Holitech Technology would start component manufacturing in India. Holitech Technology entered into a MoU with the state of Andhra Pradesh and will start local manufacturing in the city of Tirupati for Xiaomi. Also in 2018, Samsung inaugurated its mobile phone manufacturing facility in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. With this new facility, Samsung reported plans to double its current capacity for mobile phones in Noida from 68 million units a year to 120 million, in a gradual expansion that is scheduled for completion in 2020.
