Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have lined up a slew of offers to attract Taiwanese electronics giant Pegatron, the second-largest manufacturer of Apple's iPhones, which is looking to set up a greenfield manufacturing facility in South India.
While the company has already held discussions with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, a senior Karnataka government official confirmed that the Taiwanese firm will soon meet industries department officials in the state to explore the possibility of investing here.
On Monday, a delegation led by Chiu-Tan Lin, managing director of Pegatron Technology India Private Limited, the Indian subsidiary of Pegatron Corporation, met Palaniswami in Chennai. The CM invited the company to invest in Tamil Nadu, which is emerging as a major hub for electronics manufacturers.
"We have so far held four rounds of talks with Pegatron. While two were conducted by investment promotion agency Guidance Tamil Nadu, Industries Minister M C Sampath held a meeting last week," a source told DH.
Tamil Nadu has identified a large tract of land near Vallakottai in Kanchipuram district, just outside Chennai, for Pegatron.
Karnataka has offered 50 acres of land outside Bengaluru. "We are also offering capital investment subsidy of 25% on land value, if it is outside Bengaluru, and the same quantity on plant & machinery, besides offering stamp duty concessions," a top government official said.
Karnataka has also offered 1% additional incentive on turnover over and above 5% available under the Centre's PLI scheme.
Pegatron Corporation President & CEO Liao-Syh-Jang told a virtual investors' conference last week that the company will initially invest Rs 1,100 crore ($150 million) in India.
The Taiwanese company has already opened its registered office in Chennai. It plans to launch production from its plant in India during the second half of 2021 or early 2022.
Sources said the Tamil Nadu government will provide capital subsidy based on investment range and location in line with the Electronics Hardware Manufacturing Policy 2020. While the subsidy is 15% for investments less than Rs 500 crore, it is 18% for those above Rs 500 crore.
The capital subsidy will be disbursed in equal annual instalments in 12 years for Pegatron since the land identified for it is in an A-category district.
Besides, the Tamil Nadu government will also provide a 50% stamp duty exemption for purchase or lease of land obtained from its agencies like ELCOT, SIDCO and SIPCOT.