Lokesh pitches for Foxconn manufacturing city in Andhra
Promises full support for Foxconn’s expansion plans
Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh with Foxconn officials at Amaravati on Monday
Amaravati: Minister for Education, IT and Electronics Nara Lokesh on Monday held meeting with the representatives of Foxconn and promised full support to set up a mega manufacturing city in the State. The Minister gave a warm reception to the Foxconn representatives by welcoming them at his residence in Undavalli.
During the meeting Lokesh explained in detail to them the available resources in the State for setting up their units and also the steps taken during the period from 2014 to 2019 to attract investments to the State besides the IT companies that have set up their units in the State.
The Minister informed them, in detail, as to how the Kia company was invited to the State during the period which he termed as a case study.
Assuring the Foxconn delegation that a policy will be formulated to provide subsidies with the sole aim of providing employment, Lokesh informed them that a novel electronic policy will soon be formulated. Maintaining that with the initiative taken by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, several companies, including Foxconn, had set up their units in the State during 2014 to 2019 period, he reminded them that 14,000 jobs were provided for women during that time.
“Since you are planning to expand your activities across India, I want you to establish, not a mere one more unit, but a mega manufacturing city in the State. We will extend all cooperation for this,” The IT and Electronics Minister told the delegation and said that the target of the State government is to provide 20 lakh jobs to the youth. He expressed confidence that Foxconn will play a major role in this.
“Whatever assistance you need for the establishment of a mega manufacturing city I will personally look after that and we will formulate a special plan for this,” Lokesh told the team.
Indian representative of Foxconn Vi Li praised the initiative being taken by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in attracting investments to the State. Regretting that the company had faced certain difficulties in the State in the past five years, he said that the company had a very warm relationship with Andhra Pradesh.
Stating that Foxconn has several units across the globe and has plans to expand its activities in the country, the company representative said that a decision will soon be taken after holding discussions with the officers of the State government.
