Wistron sets up JV with Optiemus, to invest Rs 1,300 crore

New Delhi: Taiwan's $20 billion firm Wistron on Tuesday announced setting up of mobile manufacturing joint venture with Indian firm Optiemus and said it will invest $200 million or Rs 1,320 crore over three to five years.

"This would be a great example of make in India with a Taiwanese company entering JV in India to make mobile phones, TV not only for India but to capture share in rest of the world," Department Of Industrial Policy & Promotion Secretary Amitabh Kant said at the signing ceremony.

He said that China is leading manufacturing destination because of investment made by Taiwanese companies.

"To my mind it will contribute in developing manufacturing ecosystem in India. I believe this JV will lead to setting up various facility across country. It should manufacture all brands in India -- to Lenovo to Apple to Sony," Kant said.

The Optiemus-Wistron JV will set up its plant in Noida by end of this financial year and start manufacturing HTC phones at that facility.

"Our next destination is India. We have average revenue of USD 20 billion annually and employ 75,000 people. We provide manufacturing service to leading companies HTC, Lenovo, Sony Xiaomi, Dell HP," Wistron Corporation Robert Hwang said.

The JV will directly employ 15,000 people at its Noida facility over period of 3-5 years, Optiemus Managing Director Ravinder Zutshi said.

"Optiemus has majority stake in JV. We will together invest USD 200 million over period of five years. The JV will start with initial capacity of 18 million phones initially and ramp up to USD 100 million in 5 years," Zutshi said.

He said that Optiemus is already making HTC and Zen phones at Noida facility.

"Once the JV starts operation we will shift HTC phones manufacturing to facility. We will continue making Zen phones at Global Device Network facility," Zutshi said.

Optiemus offers product distribution and after sales service as well. The company has partnered UniverCell and partnered with Vodafone for retail facility.

"We also have our own retail brand Mobiliti which has its own 105 shops," Zutshi said.

He said that the first facility being set up by the JV is without government aid and in second phase, the JV will approach to leverage benefits being offered by central and state governments.