A recent development indicated that the country’s prominent global player in the electronics manufacturing industry, Tata Electronics, is all set to expand its workforce at its Tamil Nadu facility.
How Did This Happen?
It appears that the company’s hiring push will bring total headcount at the Hosur plant to 75,000 from the current 60,000, reportedly.
This is huge as it would be essentially adding 15,000 employees over the next six months as it races to keep pace with surging demand from Apple.
Now, Tata is looking to match the employment levels of Foxconn, Apple which is the largest contract manufacturer, in India as per media reports.
The plan for rapid expansion comes at a time when Tata Electronics scales up electronics manufacturing services – a decision driven by Apple’s accelerating production in the country, reportedly.
During the first half of the current fiscal year, Apple iPhone exports from India reached a record $10 billion which is a 75% jump from $5.71 billion during the same period last year.
Talent Shortage Posing Challenges
It won’t be an exaggeration to say that “Tata Electronics is ramping up rapidly to keep up with demand from Apple,” said the sources familiar with the expansion.
Further adding, “In the next six months or so, their headcount is likely to be at the same level as that of Foxconn, signaling the feverish pace of growth in recent times.”
Moving ahead, the sources noted,”It’s a significant achievement for the industry at large for an Indian player to reach this scale in a short span of time and to be part of a global value chain like Apple’s.”
Although this development is taking momentum, but finding qualified workers is proving a difficult task, said the sources.
Further added, “Tata Electronics is struggling with finding enough skilled manpower. As the scale gets bigger and bigger, they are recognizing that they have to be more thoughtful about how they approach factors like manpower, water, power and other things.”
The sources stated, “There’s a need especially to solve for the talent piece because customer traction and other factors are rock solid.”
