In order to win more business from Apple Inc, Tata Group is planning to multiply the number of employees by adding tens of thousands of workers at its electronics factory in southern India that makes iPhone components.
More Hiring In Coming Months
As part of this initiative, the plant which is located in the industrial town of Hosur, in Tamil Nadu state, will hire as many as 45,000 women workers in the coming 18 to 24 months.
The move will help in setting up new production lines, according to the sources.
Basically, this factory produces iPhone housings or the cases which hold the device together.
Presently, it employs over 10,000 workers, most of them women.
It appears that the Indian salt-to-software conglomerate is trying to benefit from Apple diversifying its supply chain beyond China.
Opportunities For Women
So far, a small fraction of iPhones and its components are made in India.
With this move, the country is making inroads with its push to challenge China as its neighbor struggles with Covid-related lockdowns and political tensions with the US.
Coming to the Hosur plant, it has spread over more than 500 acres, in September.
The plant has hired about 5,000 women, including those from the indigenous tribal communities, said the sources
Reportedly, Indian companies are seeking to hire more women to improve the country’s gender imbalance in the workforce.
So far, Tata and Apple have not released any statement in this regard.
The women working at the Hosur factory are getting a gross salary of just over 16,000 rupees ($194) a month.
Which is nearly 40% more than the Indian industry average for employees who use hands or tools for assembly, said the sources.Â
Besides this, they are given free food and lodging within the campus.
Along with this Tata also plans to provide training and education.
Increase In Local Component Manufacturing
It seems that India’s fledgling electronics industry is trying to capitalize on China’s challenges to cope with the pandemic.
Moreover, Apple’s main manufacturing partner, Foxconn Technology Group, is grappling with mounting concerns that a Covid flare-up at its main Chinese plant could hurt production ahead of the all-important holiday shopping season.
Considering the requirements to diversify beyond China, Foxconn and fellow Taiwanese contract manufacturers Wistron Corp. and Pegatron Corp. have ramped up iPhone output in India.
The move was also boosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s financial incentives program.
Besides this, it has helped to increase iPhone exports from the South Asian country.
On top of that, adding more local component manufacturing would also bolster India’s effort to expand deeper into the technology supply chain.
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