Clearly, Apple is keen to spread as much of its manufacturing beyond China as possible. India already houses its manufacturing facilities in Tamil Nadu where much of the iPhone assembly takes place. Now, its new facility at Devanahalli, near Bengaluru has already hired 30,000 people in about eight to nine months. Interestingly, 80 per cent of the workforce at this facility comprises women.
Spread over 300 acres, the workforce here is rather young, with most women in the age group of 19 to 24, as reported by ET. It is expected that this Bengaluru facility may surpass the Tamil Nadu facility in size and strength.
Not only is the plant assembling iPhones but also manufacturing the latest model, with most of the output being sent abroad.
The new campus reportedly has the capacity to take on 50,000 employees and has many spacious dormitories for women. Construction is reportedly still going on. Once complete, the campus will offer a school and medical facilities as it grows into a township over the years. Workers will reportedly be offered free housing as well as meals at subsidised rates.
Foxconn (Hon Hai Technology Group) is reportedly investing Rs 20,000 crore to develop this facility, with the production floor itself spread over 2.5 lakh square feet. With the expansion taking place at a face pace, it will not be surprising if the facility near Bengaluru ends up being the largest plant with maximum women workers across a dozen assembly lines, especially in blue-collar roles.
Thanks to the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme introduced in 2021, Apple has been steadily and successfully moving its iPhone production to India.