Mumbai, March 12, 2007: On the occasion of its first anniversary of manufacturing in India, Nokia the world leader in mobile communications announced that it is progressing ahead on its 4 year commitment of USD 150 million. The company has reached a shipment volume of 25 million handsets as of December 2006. The manufacturing plant currently employs 3800 people, as against the projected 2000, in the beginning of 2006.
As a part of the USD 150 million announced earlier, the factory is expanding the current floor space from 30,000 sq metres to 53,000 sq metres to cater to the burgeoning needs of the Indian market.
In a related move, Nokia India announced the appointment of Sachin Saxena as its new Director-India Operations for the Chennai manufacturing factory. He takes over from Jukka Lehtela, who has played a pivotal role in building not only the Nokia Telecom Park but also been instrumental in building the telecom ecosystem in Sriperumbudur, Chennai. Sachin moves from LG Electronics with over 17 years of manufacturing and operations experience from Hindustan Lever, Whirlpool and more recently from LG.
“Nokia has played a pioneering role in driving the adoption of cellular technology in India. Over the years we have consolidated our presence and our success today is a demonstration of our long term commitment to India,” said Mr. D Shivakumar, Vice President and Managing Director, Nokia India.
“It is a moment of great pride for all of us at Nokia, especially for me, personally, to have been instrumental in creating a robust manufacturing facility in Sriperumbadur. Today the manufacturing ecosystem in the Nokia Telecom Park is coming together with several global component manufacturers expected to start operations by mid 2007. ” said Mr. Jukka Lehtela.
On the appointment of Sachin Saxena as the new Director- India Operations, he added, “Over the last 15 months we have developed a strong team and we are confident that, Sachin, with his rich experience will lead our India operations to its next logical high.”
“I am excited in taking on this new responsibility as it will help me draw from my previous experience and apply it to leading Nokia’s efforts in telecom manufacturing. Nokia is seen as a pioneer in bringing high-end manufacturing in India and I look forward to an exciting phase ahead”, said Sachin Saxena, Director-India Operations.
The Nokia manufacturing facility was formally inaugurated in March 2006 and has played a pivotal role in enabling Chennai to become the telecommunications manufacturing hub for the country. The Nokia Telecom Park is spread over 210 acres and has 7 global component manufacturers already signed up and expected to commence operations within the Park by mid 2007. These include Salcomp, Aspocomp, Foxconn, Perlos, Laird, Jabil and Wintek. Nokia currently uses 80 percent of the production for domestic consumption. The Nokia Telecom Park has the potential to employ 20,000 people by 2008 when it is fully operational.
Nokia has taken a number of Community Involvement initiatives at the grass root level looking into the country’s heterogeneous community and societal landscape. These include the Chennai Factory Fence Line School Improvement Plans where it is working with students in and around Sriperumbudur to impart IT education programs and life skills.
India is currently the third largest market for Nokia in terms of volumes and is expected to emerge as the second largest market by 2010 or even sooner. Nokia is the first equipment vendor to begin commercial production of both devices and network equipment at its 15th global manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur, Chennai.