Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in on Monday inaugurated Samsung’s mobile manufacturing plant, touted as the biggest in the world, in Noida.
With this plant, set up on an investment of ₹4,915 crore, the South Korean electronics major plans to make India an export hub, with 50% of its overall production coming from here in the next three years from the present 10%. Samsung said it will almost double its manufacturing capacity to 120 million by 2020 from 68 million now.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Modi said that the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative was not just an economic policy measure, but also a commitment of better ties with friendly nations such as South Korea. He added that 30% of the phones made at the Noida plant would be exported.
Mr. Modi, who travelled with Mr. Moon to Noida in the Delhi Metro, said India’s growing economy and rising neo-middle class create immense investment possibilities.
The move comes at a time when companies globally are seeking to grab a pie of the exploding smartphone market in India, which is the world’s fasted growing smartphone market, where shipments grew 14% to 124 million in 2017, as per IDC. It overtook the U.S. last year to become the world's second-largest smartphone market after China.
All Samsung mobile phones, including the flagship Galaxy S9, S9+ and Galaxy Note8, are made at the Noida plant.
The Prime Minister noted that India now ranks second, globally, in the manufacture of mobile phones, with the number of mobile phone manufacturing factories rising from just 2 to 120, in about four years’ time, creating 4 lakh direct employment opportunities.
“Samsung has played a leading role in employment generation... they have give employment to 70,000 people all over the country...This new plant is going to get employment for one thousand more people,” Mr. Modi said.
President Moon said he was happy that Korean companies are taking part in fast paced growth of India and assured that the Korean government will do its utmost to provide all support.
