Smartphone manufacturers expected to hire 60,000 in next 6-12 months

Smartphone manufacturing companies are expected to create 60,000 direct jobs in the country in the next 6-12 months, The Economic Times (ET) has cited data from staffing firm Teamlease. The development comes as India becomes the world's second-largest mobile handsets manufacturer.

Teamlease Services has over 5,000 vacancies in mobile manufacturing with more positions in the pipeline, chief executive-staffing at Teamlease, Kartik Narayan told the newspaper. Another staffing company, Ciel HR Services' CEO Aditya Narayan Mishra told ET that there are about 2,000 open positions, with more expected.

Apart from these direct jobs, there is a likelihood of 80,000-100,000 jobs being created by smartphone manufacturing companies in the next 12-24 months. The report said that Leading mobile brands, their suppliers, and assembly partners are looking to set up manufacturing in India and thus ramp up their hiring.

 

Apple smartphone manufacturers like Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron, along with other electronics manufacturing companies like Dixon Technologies and Tata Electronics, are also likely to increase their manpower, the ET report said. Kartik Narayan of Teamlease was quoted in the report as saying, "We are expecting 40,000-60,000 direct jobs in phone manufacturing pan India by March 2024."

"India has over 200 mobile manufacturing units. "It is the second largest mobile manufacturer in volume terms … This is leading to a huge demand for manpower," he added.

Tamil Nadu is likely to make up for a large part of these jobs, alongside Delhi-National Capital Region and Karnataka. With a push from the government that aims to turn India into a manufacturing hub, India is expected to manufacture about 270-300 million smartphone units this calendar year.

A global consensus towards shifting the manufacturing facilities beyond China is also giving wings to the idea of making India a hub for manufacturing electronic products, industry experts said.

What is the PLI Scheme?

Production-linked incentive scheme (PLI) for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing was announced on April 01, 2020. The scheme offers the manufacturers an incentive to boost domestic manufacturing. The government intends to attract large investments in mobile phone manufacturing and specified electronic components, including assembly, testing, marking and packaging (ATMP) units.

The scheme has drawn global manufacturers, including Samsung, Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron. Among these, Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron are contract manufacturers of Apple smartphones.