In a major development, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday, July 17 held an important meeting with the CEO of a subsidiary entity of the Taiwanese chip making giant Foxconn in Bengaluru. The delegation headed by the Foxconn Industrial Internet CEO Brand Cheng met Siddaramaiah at the Vidhana Soudha and discussed establishing a manufacturing unit near Tumakuru. The meeting was attended by the Large and Medium Industries Minister MB Patil along with Rural Development and Panchayat Raj and IT and BT Minister, Priyank Kharge and other senior bureaucrats.

The Foxconn Industrial Internet company is a subsidiary of Foxconn which will manufacture the outer layer of the Apple phones. They have evinced interest to invest Rs 8,800 crore of investment. Siddaramaiah assured the delegation that there is 100 acres of land available in the Japanese Industrial Area near Tumakuru. “Our state government would extend complete cooperation,” he said.

The Karnataka government had recently announced that the legal hurdles to hand over 300 acres of land to the Taiwanese chip making giant was cleared and very soon the land would be handed over to the company. Minister Patil also had announced that the company would start production by next April.

"A total of 300 acres will be given to the company in the ITIR (IT Investment Region) spread over Devanahalli and Doddaballapur taluks. The company would invest around Rs 8,500 crore to set up a manufacturing plant. The company can commence construction work immediately after the handing over of the land," he had said.

The government is facilitating the commissioning of the project which would provide 50,000 jobs, he added.