The World’s Largest Mobile Factory Isn’t Really ‘Making in India’

World’s largest mobile factory is in India now! But how does this really help the Make in India initiative?

Samsung’s second mobile manufacturing unit in Noida.

(Photo: Samsung India)

So now the world’s largest mobile factory is in the world’s second-largest mobile manufacturing country in the world - India! This is what the headlines will tell you. India has been making in-roads into promoting local manufacturing ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed the “Make in India” campaign and since then mobile manufacturers have been setting up camp here, locally manufacturing or assembling units.

Brands like Xiaomi and HTC have started manufacturing in the country and that has reaped them rewards as some brands like Xiaomi have hit the number one spot in India in terms of market share.

While this move by Samsung is indeed headline worthy, this factory does bring a lot of questions along with it. Questions like:

1. Is this really promoting “Make in India”?
2. Is there any skill building that is happening?
3. How does this help the economy?

The Difference Between Make & Manufacture

Contrary to many assumptions, the new factory by Samsung will be responsible for ASSEMBLING mobile phones and not MANUFACTURING them. Samsung officials have said the components will be imported from outside, from South Korea, China and even the US and then assembly will take place here.

The new Samsung factory is spread across 35 acres.(Photo: The Quint)

Our Noida factory, the world’s largest mobile factory, is a symbol of Samsung’s strong commitment to India. We ‘Make in India’, ‘Make for India’ and now, we will ‘Make for the World’

HC Hong, Chief Executive Officer, Samsung India

Apart from meeting local demands the company also plans to export 30 percent of the output to foreign countries. Since Samsung has its global research and development hub in India, this helps its cause.

This new facility is more in line with the “Make for the World” initiative as foreign hardware combined with India’s assembly and software prowess will put India on the world map as a strong manufacturing hub.

Any Benefits for the Employment Sector?

There’s no doubt this initiative is going to boost employment opportunities in the area. Since this is a labour intensive facility and the company is looking to churn out almost 1.2 crore units in a month, it surely is going to need all the manpower it can get.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi went on to highlight that more that 4 lakh job opportunities have been created by Samsung in the mobile manufacturing division and this factory will add almost 1,000 people directly and indirectly.

It’s bemusing that the South Korean President mentioned that more than 2,000 jobs will be created by this venture while on the other hand UP chief Minister Yogi Adityanath mentioned that the factory would give 35,000 jobs directly or indirectly as opposed to Prime Minister Modi’s figure of 1,000. Looks like someone at the back messed up the numbers.

Since this is an assembly unit, there will not be any kind of skill building for the labourers apart from knowing how to assemble different components. In a country like China manufacturers have to train the workforce on how to make the units from scratch.

So How Much Are We Talking About?

Samsung has invested almost Rs 4,915 crore in this project, which is why it drew the attention of people like UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and also Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is seen as India's way of telling the world that it is a good time to invest in India.

The current capacity of the plant is 67 million, which is said to double to 120 million phones for the year, making it one of the world’s largest. These 120 million units will also include feature phones.

So, as far as the “ Make in India” campaign is concerned, this factory isn’t there yet. It's still an "Assemble in India, for the World" setup, which is as good as it gets. For now.