Industry behemoth Tata Group is planning to hire 45,000 women workers within 18 to 24 months to make iPhone components. According to multiple sources, the addition would happen in the industrial town of Hosur, Tamil Nadu where the iPhone parts plant is set up for production. The factory currently employs about 10,000 workers, who are mostly women.

The latest move is part of Tata’s push to win more business from the tech behemoth, with plans to add tens of thousands of workers at the electronic factories in Southern India. 

Apple is planning to diversify its supply chain beyond China and many Indian companies are trying to utilise this opportunity to expand their hold in the Indian electronics sector, which is considered to grow exponentially in near future.

The Hosur plant, which constitutes of land more than 500 acres, hired 5,000 women workers in September, including those from tribal communities. The move is a conscious effort by Tata and many companies to diversify their workforce from top to bottom.   

Women at the Hosur factory earn just 16,000 rupees ($194) a month, nearly 40% more than the Indian industry average for workers using tools or hands. The workers are provided free food and lodging within the campus and there are plans to provide training and education to them, HT Tech reported.

“Our ambition is to build a USD 300bn electronics manufacturing industry in India by 2025-26,” said India’s Minister of State, E&IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar at the U.S.-India Business Council’s (USIBC) India Ideas Summit 2022.

“Electronics manufacturing, currently at USD 75 bn, will form an important component of the USD 1 trillion Indian economies. India's manufacturing capabilities have strengthened during the COVID-19 landscape, making us a preferred partner in supply chains worldwide,” Chandrashekhar added.  

With China struggling due to COVID-19-related lockdowns and their consistent political tension with the U.S, India’s move to consolidate the supply chain partnership is making inroads while challenging their perennial neighbour. 

Apple’s main manufacturing partner, Foxconn Technology Group is struggling with maintaining efficient production ahead of the all-important holiday season i.e Christmas, with prevalent fears of the re-emergence of COVID at its main Chinese plant. 

India’s upcoming electronics industry will try to capitalise on these challenges to bolster its own efforts to expand deeper into the technology supply chain. According to a Bloomberg report, competing housing suppliers include Lens Technology Co, Jabil Inc, and Lingyi iTech Guangdong Co.

Tata group is also planning to establish an electronics manufacturing joint venture with Taiwanese manufacturer Wistron to assemble iPhones and ramp up their output in India.