Janjivan Bureau / Noida : South Korean consumer electronics major Samsung on Monday inaugurated the world’s largest mobile phone factory here which will double its annual handset production capacity to 120 million units by 2020.
The facility was inaugurated jointly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
The new plant will help the company raise its capacity in a phased manner, from 68 million units at present, to 120 million.
The company also launched Make for the World’ initiative, whereby it aims to export mobile handsets produced in India, to overseas markets.
Samsung India CEO HC Hong said: “Our Noida factory, the world’s largest mobile factory, is a symbol of Samsung’s strong commitment to India, and a shining example of the success of the Government’s Make in India’ programme. Samsung is a long-term partner of India.
The company is aligned with government policies and will continue to seek their support to achieve dream of making India a global export hub for mobile phones, he said.
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath and Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma were present at the event.
In June last year, Samsung had announced investment of Rs 4,915 crore to add new capacity at the Noida plant in Uttar Pradesh.
Set up in 1996, Samsung’s Noida factory, is one of the first global electronics manufacturing facilities set up in India.
A bigger manufacturing plant, spread over 129,000 sq metre, will help Samsung meet the growing demand for its innovative products and services across the country and also fulfil the company’s goal of making India an export hub for the world, Samsung said in a statement.
Presently all Samsung mobile phones, including its flagship Galaxy S9, S9+ and Galaxy Note8, are manufactured at its Noida plant.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in took a ride in the Metro to Noida today.
Both the leaders headed there for the inauguration of a Samsung facility to manufacture mobile phones.
The prime minister’s office (PMO) tweeted a picture of the two leaders travelling on the Delhi Metro. Another picture tweeted by the PMO showed them at the Yamuna Bank metro station.
A DMRC spokesman said the leaders boarded a Metro train at Mandi House station at around 4:36 pm and travelled up to Botanical Garden station on the Blue Line.
They travelled with tokens in a normal train with passengers and there was no delay in services on the Blue Line due to their movement, the spokesperson added.
The leaders also returned to Delhi in the Metro. While returning they boarded at the Botanical Gardens metro station in Noida and de-boarded at Mandi House. The ride to and from took 25 minutes each, PMO sources said.
The South Korean President is on a four-day visit to India.
“Undertaking the journey of development together! PM @narendramodi and President of RoK, Moon Jae-in travelling together in Delhi Metro en route to Noida for inaugurating manufacturing unit of Samsung Electronics,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted along with pictures of the leaders travelling in a train.
The Prime Minister had earlier taken a Metro ride with French President Francois Hollande to Gurgaon to inaugurate the interim secretariat of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
Modi had also taken the Metro during his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull’s visit to the iconic Akshardham Temple in east Delhi.
Samsung has another manufacturing unit at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, five R&D centres and one design centre in India.
