Samsung inaugurates world’s largest mobile phone factory in Noida

South Korean technology giant Samsung inaugurated the world’s largest mobile manufacturing unit in Noida. It was jointly inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Key Facts :

• Samsung Electronics facility at Sector 81 in Noida will help company to double its current manufacturing capacity for mobile phones in Noida from 6.8 crore units a year to 12 crore units a year (10 million phones in a month), in phase-wise expansion that will be completed by 2020.
• The facility will allow Samsung to make phones at a lower cost due to its scale when other phone making hubs such as China are getting more expensive.
• 70% phones manufactured in this facility will be earmarked for domestic market in Indian and remaining 30% will be exported to Middle-Eastern and African nations.
• The new factory has been built at investment of Rs. 4,915 crore on 35-acre land.
• It will generate 2,000 direct jobs. At present, Samsung provides 70,000 direct and indirect jobs in country, 5,000 of them are employed in Noida.
• Production in this new facility will range from low-end smartphones priced below $100 to company’s flagship models.

Analysis :

• India is world’s second-largest smartphone market after China (after it overtook US).
• According to a study by Cisco Systems, there will be 780 million connected smartphones in 2021, compared with 359 million in 2016.
• This new facility is expected to help Samsung to consolidate its leadership position in Indian mobile market, which currently is facing strong competition in smartphone segment by Chinese players such as Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo and others.
• In the past two-and-half years, Korean foreign direct investment of around $3.5 billion has come India’s way and bilateral trade is up by 30%.

By: Harman Sandhu