The Hindu : Business : Motorola to consider manufacturing in India

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Friday, Aug 26, 2005

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Motorola to consider manufacturing in India

Company plans to increase R&D staff

— Photo: R. V. Moorthy

CONNECTING THE UNCONNECTED: The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Motorola, Edward J. Zander, showing the latest technology mobile phone at an interactive meeting on Seamless mobility — the future of wireless communication, in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: Global mobile equipment maker Motorola on Thursday said it would consider manufacturing in India to comply with the eligibility criteria of deals with state-run carriers like BSNL and MTNL but remained non-committal on any immediate plan in this regard.

"We are not closed to it. We will consider manufacturing here. We will do everything to comply with the tender conditions of the PSU telecom carriers ... but that will be when and in what shape, size and form, I can't say at this point of time. Our focus is to gain siginficant market share here and attain a critical mass'', Edward Zander, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Motorola, said here.

India, with a mobile user base of 5.9 crore, is one of the fastest growing wireless markets in the world and is currently adding about 25 lakh subscribers every month.

According to a proposed Government policy, vendors would need to have local manufacturing facilities to be able to bid for tenders of PSUs like Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL). BSNL alone is close to finalising a Rs. 13,000 crore tender for its 40 million GSM mobile project. A number of multinational vendors of mobile telephony equipment, including Nokia and Ericsson, have announced plans to start manufacturing in India. Mr. Zander said to gain a major market share, Motorola would look at ``connecting the unconnected'' by launching handsets costing below Rs. 2,000. The company had already launched one such handset while another would be out by October. These handsets would be targeted towards low-end users and rural areas.

Mr. Zander was bullish on carrying out R&D in the country. Motorola plans to increase its staff in India by about 1,000 by the end of next year from the current 3,000. It now employs 3,000 staff in India of whom 2,500 work at its R&D centres with the rest in sales, marketing and support. Motorola is contributing more to India by investing in R&D than if it were to set up a manufacturing facility in the country, he said. — PTI

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