Maran's US visit to generate 10,000 jobs

NEW DELHI: Indian IT and telecom minster Dayanidhi Maran, expects a total of $1 billion - $1.2 billion FDI and 10,000 more jobs as a result of his US visit. Maran recently concluded a five-day tour to the US to promote and project India as a strategic hub for manufacturing, marketing, R&D and services.

According to Maran, internationally the perception about India is changing and the country is being seen as a good manufacturing hub. "The government policy on special economic zones, market access, policy of the government to promote computers are the advantages that companies keep in mind when considering India as a potential manufacturing hub," he said.

Maran also met up with Flextronics officials during his visit to persuade them to set up a manufacturing unit in India. The company officials have committed to increasing their investment in India.

He also informed that Solectron, supplier of OEM equipment, is also considering investing in India and Cisco has also agreed to explore options to increase its presence in India.

Pitching for a semiconductor fab unit in India, Maran said he had met semiconductor equipment company Applied Materials, IBM, India Electronics Manufacturing Corporation and the India Semiconductor Association to setup a state-of-art 90nm/5nm fab in India. "If the plan works out, it would mean an investment of $ three billion in this project alone," he added.

Maran also plans to have a 2000 acre fab city in India, which would house fab units of all companies. The plans for this are still to be formalized and the minister would soon be writing to the state governments in this regard.