Tata Group To Add 45,000 Women Workers At iPhone Parts Plant: Report

Tata Group is planning to increase the number of employees at its electronics factory in Tamil Nadu that makes iPhone components, 

This is seen as a move by the company to win more business from Apple.

The plant in Tamil Nadu’s Hosur will hire as many as 45,000 women workers within 18 to 24 months as it sets up new production lines, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. 

The factory, which produces iPhone housings or the cases which hold the device together, currently employs about 10,000 workers, most of them women.

The move comes as Apple looks to diversif its supply chain beyond China in view of stringent Covid-19 norms and lockdowns in the country.

Separately, Tata Group is in talks with Wistron to establish an electronics manufacturing joint venture, seeking to assemble iPhones in India, the report cited people familiar with the matter.

The Hosur plant, spread over more than 500 acres, in September hired about 5,000 women. 

Women at the Hosur factory get gross salaries of just over 16,000 rupees ($194) a month, nearly 40% more than the Indian industry average for employees who use hands or tools for assembly, according to the people. The workers are given free food and lodging within the campus, the people said, adding that Tata also plans to provide training and education.

Apple’s main manufacturing partner, Foxconn, is grappling with mounting concern that a Covid flare-up at its main Chinese plant could hurt production ahead of the holiday shopping season.

To diversify beyond China, Foxconn and fellow Taiwanese contract manufacturers Wistron Corp and Pegatron Corp have ramped up iPhone output in India.