Electronics Manufacturing Services Firm Dixon Expects Rs.19,000 cr Revenue this Fiscal

Electronics manufacturing services firm Dixon Technologies expects to close the current fiscal with a revenue of around Rs 19,000 crore, a senior company official said on Thursday. Dixon Technologies vice chairman and managing director Atul Lall said the company has plans to double its headcount over the next two years. "In a short period of just 5-6 years, we have grown from Rs 1,500 crore, and this year, we should close at around Rs 19,000 crore. We have grown from 1,700 people to 27,000 people, and let me assure you that this is going to double in 2 years," Lall said.

He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of Dixon Technologies' fourth mobile manufacturing plant set-up under its wholly-owned subsidiary Padget Electronics.

The plant was inaugurated by Union Minister for Electronics and IT Aswhini Vaishnaw.

The plant is spread over an area of around 2.7 lakh square feet at an investment of Rs 256 crore. It will make smartphones for the Chinese company Xiaomi. It has an annual production capacity of 2.5 crore mobile phones.

Dixon Technologies Executive Chairman Sunil Vachani said the company now has an annual smartphone production capacity of 70 million and is in the process of setting up the next mobile manufacturing unit, which will be spread over 10 lakh square feet.

"We have started construction of our new factory. This is going to be the largest factory for Dixon with a one million square feet constructed area. Our exports... were negligible for mobile phones. Last year, we exported mobile phones worth Rs 1,200 crore, and this year, we are going to double it to almost Rs 2,000 crore," Vachani said.

Padget's 4th plant is the largest factory for Dixon mobile phone manufacturing, he added.

"Once this factory is fully operational it will employ 5,000 people. Going forward, we are fully committed to invest in backward integration, invest in design in India and make in India," Vachani said.

At the inauguration event, Vaishnaw said the electronics manufacturing in the country has gained momentum for the next level of growth and value addition.

He said that ten years ago, people could not imagine electronics manufacturing in the country.

"When industry crosses a threshold level then momentum comes into the industry. That threshold was achieved when electronics manufacturing in the country crossed USD 100 billion. Now, we have a tailwind to take things to a new level. The component ecosystem is coming into the country," Vaishnaw said.

He said that within the next few years, the USD 100 billion production will increase multifold.

The minister said the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the mobile sector alone has created 5 lakh incremental job opportunities, and it is expected to grow further in the next five years.

Vaishnaw attacked the opposition for calling electronics manufacturing in the country a mere assembly.

"Those who could not do anything are engaged in criticism. Don't worry about them. Some leaders in opposition rejoice by criticising. They say it is assembly, not manufacturing. Those who have never seen manufacturing in their life, how will they tell the difference between manufacturing and assembly?" Vaishnaw said.

He said companies that qualified under the recently announced IT hardware PLI scheme have already started production.

The minister said the electronic component ecosystem is developing in the country and India will become a significant component exporter in the next 3-4 years.

"Industry has ignored their criticism. Local value addition in many electronics products has increased to up to 60 per cent," Vaishnaw said.