According to Reuters, there was disturbance at Foxconn's iPhone 13 production site in India, which has raised much concern, particularly for those Taiwanese firms who are looking to invest massively in the South Asia country. Can India really become the world's factory after China? Can we expect India to produce one-third of the world's handsets in a "G2" divide that splits global manufacturing into two camps?
As far as I know, the Foxconn plant is located in Chennai, in southeastern India, and the number of workers there is about 12,000. More than 4,000 workers took part in the protest. With the coordination of the Indian government, Foxconn is scheduled to resume work next Monday. Just like the early stage of reform and opening up in China, there are employees from different provinces and ethnicities at the Indian plant. India is somewhat tolerant of non-governmental organizations such as trade unions, which is a source of pressure in one way of another for foreign investors who manage plants there.
According to a survey conducted by DIGITIMES, among the top-100 companies in the Asian supply chain in terms of combined revenue of automobiles and electronics, 14 are from Taiwan and four from India. The 14 companies from Taiwan are all from the electronics industry, while the four Indian companies are all from the automotive industry. India's auto market is already close to three million units a year, and the motorcycle market is the largest in the world, reaching 20 million units a year. On the other hand, the Indian government is actively attracting foreign investment, with the PLI program in full swing, and even hopes that Taiwan's semiconductor companies can enter India as well. Therefore, the Indian government has been actively handling the Foxconn plant incident.
The incident started when a leak in the sewage treatment system contaminated the food in the handset plant, causing food poisoning to some of the workers. According to local media reports in India, police have arrested the operator of a social networking site and charged him with fanning the protest. The Indian government, which has been actively wooing foreign investments, has already intervened, and the plant is expected to reopen on Monday.
India's industrial areas are mainly located in the north near Delhi, the west coast mainly in Mumbai and Goa, and the southeast area centered in Chennai. The most fertile land in the Ganges Delta, near Kolkata, lacks the distribution of electronics and motor vehicle industries.
To invest in Inida, Taiwanese businessmen should understand the cultures and traditions of the people and participate in local activities, and how to connect to the locals will be the biggest test for foreign businessmen entering India.
(Editor's note: This is part of a series of analysis of Taiwan's role in the global ICT industry.)
