VIJAYAWADA: In yet another investment that could boost electronic manufacturing sector in Andhra Pradesh, Chinese consumer electronics producer TCL Corporation has agreed to set up a manufacturing unit in Tirupati. The IT, Electronics and Communication (IT, E and C) department signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this connection with the company, arguably the third largest television manufacturer (by market share) in the world, on Thursday.
The agreement was signed in the presence of IT minister Nara Lokesh and TCL’s chief financial officer Michael Wong in Shenzhen, China. Speaking on the occasion, Lokesh said the proposed unit in Tirupati would the company’s first facility to come up in India. He said the agreement with TCL Corporation is another huge investment attracted by the State after Flextronics.
The TCL Corporation designs, manufactures and sells consumer electronics including television sets, mobile phones, air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators and small electrical appliances.
The firm manufactures 80 lakh TV panels and three crore mobile units annually. Explaining the steps taken by the State government to develop the electronics manufacturing sector in the State, Lokesh said, “We have introduced unique policies, along with special incentives, to attract large, medium and small-scale manufacturers. Andhra Pradesh is the only State in India that has three electronics clusters. Until now, India is only known for assembling electronics parts, but now we are working hard with an aim to make Andhra Pradesh a manufacturing hub,” he added.
He said the three clusters being developed were based on the ‘Design-To-Death’ model, covering a product’s entire life cycle — from design to manufacturing to e-waste management. “Before bifurcation, not a single mobile was made AP. Now 30 out of every 100 mobiles in India are manufactured in AP.”