VIJAYAWADA: Terming Andhra Pradesh as a strategic region for supply chain operations, IT and Electronics Minister Nara Lokesh, has invited the ZF Foxconn company to set up its unit in the state.
The minister addressed various sessions at the World Economic Forum Summit in Davos on its second day on Tuesday. He held a meeting at Belvedere hotel with the CEO of ZF Foxconn chassis modules company, Eike Dorff.
Lokesh informed Dorff that AP’s automobile sector was developing rapidly. Popular car companies like Kia and Isuzu have their units in the state, he explained.
These apart, bus manufacturing companies like Ashok Leyland, Veera and Azad Mobility are also planning to expand their Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEMs) units in AP as the state has a “positive ecosystem” for investments. Cities like Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Anantapur are the most ideal for setting up the automobile manufacturing and supply chain, Lokesh said and invited the CEO to establish his unit in AP.
“The wide roads, ports and airports in the state will help improve supply chain operations,” Lokesh said and informed him that the state government is sharpening the skills of youths.
He sought the cooperation of the ZF Foxconn for setting up engineering and skilling centres in AP, an official release here said.
Informing Lokesh that the ZF Foxconn Chassis Modules and Hero Motors joint ventures are already maintaining a plant in Chennai, besides extending crucial global customer services to BMW, the company CEO said that it has set a target to take the transactions in India to $8.8 billion by 2029, up from the current $4.4 billion.
The CEO said a decision will be taken after discussing AP’s proposal at the company’s board meeting.
