300 acres of land to be given to Foxconn for Apple iPhone unit, Minister

Industries Minister M B Patil on Friday said that legal hurdles related to providing 300 acres of land to Taiwanese giant Foxconn were resolved and the land will be handed over soon to the company.

Replying to a question raised by BJP legislator, Dheeraj Muniraju of Doddaballapura constituency in Assembly, Patil pointed out that a total of 300 acres will be handed over to the company in the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) region.

He said that the company proposes to invest around $1 billion (around Rs 8,400 crore) to set up its manufacturing plant where Apple iPhones will be made. “The company will commence construction immediately after the handing over of the land,” he said and added that the company plans to start production by next April which would provide 50,000 jobs.

Patil said that the state government is mulling handing over the maintenance of all industrial layouts and townships in the state to respective industrial trade bodies that are presently operating after the state government releases a one-time grant to provide basic infrastructure in all of these layouts/townships.

The Industries minister conceded that most of the industrial layouts and townships lack basic facilities and the government is contemplating to make one-time investment to upgrade existing facilities and then hand over the management to respective trade bodies that exist there.

“Our first experiment of establishing the Electronics city Industrial Township Authority (ELCITA) for self-governance has borne fruitful collaboration and supported the growth of industries and also startups. Similarly, we want trade bodies like Peenya Industry and others can also manage their affairs effectively in their townships,” he explained.

He added that once the state government invests and upgrades basic facilities of these townships, the government can sign agreements with respective trade bodies, who will be allowed to generate revenues – 30 per cent of which will be given to the local body.

The minister noted that the new industrial policy recognised as many as 152 taluks as most backward and 78 taluks backward while nine taluks which are considered to be developed are located in Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural districts. PTI