New Delhi: iPhone contract maker Foxconn is pushing for women employees in India to take up key positions in design and other technology-related jobs. Foxconn has 48,000 employees in India and 25 per cent of its new hires are married women. “We believe that women are not only meant for assembly jobs but also for some design, technology-related positions. Many of our existing women employees are highly educated. We would like to give them more opportunities to advance, instead of restricting them to just assembly jobs,” Foxconn Chairman Young Liu told PTI.
Foxconn’s plant has about 70 per cent women and 30 per cent men. The company recently inaugurated a women’s housing complex built by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) at Sriperumbudur near Chennai, which can house over 18,000 women employees working with Foxconn. Liu had then said that there is a trend of increase in all types of hiring by the Taiwanese electronics manufacturing major in India and the company hires without gender bias.
The company is also setting up its second largest mobile manufacturing plant outside China in Karnataka, which will entail an investment of Rs 25,000 crore, creating 40,000 jobs. Foxconn recently invested about Rs 1,200 crore in its Karnataka unit. With this, its total investment in Foxconn Hon High Technology India Mega Development Pvt Ltd has gone up to about Rs 13,800 crore. Liu had said last week that the company is in talks with the Tamil Nadu government to set up a battery energy storage system unit, which will focus on electric vehicles.
Apart from this, the company has formed a joint venture to set up a semiconductor plant in India and is also in the process of starting production of electric vehicles in the country. Liu said that Foxconn’s information and communication technology segment has just started in India. He said, we are also preparing to establish our future industry in India. Under this, Foxconn has given priority to expanding business in three major industries – electric vehicles, digital health and robotics industries.
