Growth in sales is establishing India as a major growth market for Nokia and a target for continued inward investment. The company announced that in the quarter ended June 2007 India became the second largest market for the company in terms of sales, overtaking the United States. Over the last three years, the country has been gaining significant ground year on year, moving from fourth position in 2005 to third position in 2006 and is today poised right behind China.
In another milestone, the company announced that it has started exporting to 58 countries from its Sriperumbudur, Chennai manufacturing plant in India, which demonstrates the operational efficiencies of the factory and conducive business environment provided by the state and central government. Today, the factory has reached production volumes of 60 million handsets (August 2007) and is exporting half of its production to 58 countries across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
The factory currently employs 4700 people and the Nokia Telecom Park has received an investment of $500 M with seven global component manufacturers likely to generate in excess of 30,000 jobs when fully functional. Nokia Siemens Networks has also announced plans to invest $100 M in India over the next three years as part of its commitment to develop a strong telecommunications environment in the country. The aim is to better address and drive the growth of the Indian mobile industry and to better serve its customers.
This investment will include setting up a proposed telecommunication equipment manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu for wireless network equipment, new offices across various cities, additional development of an existing R&D centre, and expanding the Global Networks Solution Centre.