Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said that India’s electronics sector is generating large-scale blue-collar employment opportunities, particularly for women.
He made the remarks while referring to reports that Taiwan-based electronics major Foxconn has onboarded nearly 30,000 employees – around 80 per cent of them women – at its new iPhone assembly facility in Bengaluru within just eight to nine months.
In a post on X, Vaishnaw said that “a women led mega factory would have been unimaginable just 10 years ago.”
“Electronics sector continues to create large scale, skilled, blue collar jobs, specially for women. Technology transfer, Women empowerment and Ease of Living in full display,” he added.
For its new iPhone assembly plant at Devanahalli, Foxconn has reportedly hired a large number of women, most of whom are first-time entrants into the formal workforce and largely in the 19-24 age group. Employment at the facility is expected to rise to nearly 50,000 workers by next year.
Trial production at the plant began in April-May this year with the iPhone 16. The facility is currently assembling the latest iPhone 17 Pro Max models, with over 80 per cent of the output earmarked for export markets.
Foxconn is investing approximately Rs 20,000 crore in the Devanahalli project. Spread across nearly 250,000 square feet, the facility is set to become the company’s largest manufacturing unit in India in terms of both production capacity and employment.
The new plant is also expected to overtake Foxconn’s first iPhone manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, which currently employs around 41,000 workers.
In October, Foxconn had announced an additional investment of Rs 15,000 crore in Tamil Nadu, which is expected to create about 14,000 high-value jobs.
Foxconn currently operates in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana, and the latest investments signal a significant expansion of the company’s manufacturing footprint in India.
(IANS)
