Ludhiana district gets another major investment worth Rs 300 cr

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 16

Emerging as the investment hub in the state, Ludhiana has attracted another major investment worth Rs 300 crore, the government has confirmed.

Skill upgrade centre

Dixon Technologies (India) Limited will make substantial investment to set up a skill upgrade centre to train its employees for developing adequate skill for telecom and networking products manufacturing activity and creating efficiency in the manufacturing process.

A leading electronic manufacturing services (EMS) giant, Dixon Technologies (India) Limited will set up an EMS plant in a joint venture with Bharti Telecom, a global telecommunications company with operations in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, having headquarters in India, at rural industrial complex in Hambran near here, the officials have said.

The announcement was made by executive chairman of Dixon Technologies, Sunil Vachani, during a meeting with Industries and Commerce Minister Gurkirat Singh Kotli in the presence of Principal Secretary, Investment Promotion, Industries and Commerce, Tejveer Singh.

Invest Punjab Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rajat Agarwal told The Tribune, here on Thursday, that the JV — Dixon Electro Appliances Private Limited — will create business and employment opportunities in the state for the electronic manufacturing sector.

He said the new EMS plant in Ludhiana would generate direct employment of around 3,170 jobs besides creating indirect employment for over 10,000 persons. The company would engage with local vendors in its day-to-day operations.

Invest Punjab Sector Officer for IT and ESDM, Deepindar Dhillon, said the JV had already acquired a manufacturing facility where push button and cordless phones were at present being manufactured while routers, modems and set top boxes were proposed to be manufactured. The firm also plans to foray into transmission and networking equipment in future, he added.

Divulging the project report, executive chairman of Dixon Technologies, Sunil Vachani, said in line with the Union Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and focus to promote local manufacturers, the company plans to set up manufacturing of telecom and networking products.

“We are proposing to invest Rs 300 crore in the next four years for undertaking manufacturing in target segments, including land and building,” he said.

Vachani shared that the JV would also invest heavily to build capabilities for core transmission equipment, next generation radio access network and wireless equipment, access and customer premise equipment, internet of things and enterprise equipment such as switches and routers.

“We would also invest to set up design centres and Dixon technology park for bringing efficiency in supply chain with focus on technology automation, research and development activities,” revealed the Dixon EC, while adding that the company believes that its rich experience in electronics manufacturing sector over the past 28 years would help in successful implementation of its planned manufacturing of telecom and networking products.

Sharing the firm’s projected revenue and export targets, the Project Manager, Dixon Technologies India Limited, Prithvi Vachani, said the company was equally committed towards exports to cater demand in international markets, including the USA, Europe, Middle East and Africa, during the next five years.

“Dixon, being one of the largest Indian contract manufacturers, envisages to contribute significantly in the country’s objective to make India a global manufacturing hub,” claimed Prithvi, while stating that the Dixon’s ability to capture the export market would majorly depend upon its vendor base and global supply chain.

Women empowerment

Dixon will endeavour to increase the existing composition of women employees of 32 per cent in the current workforce in the coming years to achieve a balanced gender diversified workforce.

Recruitment centres

The company will also set up recruitment centres in rural areas to create employment opportunities in such areas.