Foxconn ‘home' for 18,720 women workers opened at Sriperumbudur

CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin inaugurated the country’s first-of-its-kind mega industrial housing project on Saturday to house 18,720 women employees of Foxconn, a key supplier of Apple, at Sriperumbudur near the city.

Modelled on similar projects developed by Foxconn in China, the mega facility is developed by Sipcot (Small Industries Development Corporation of Tamil Nadu) over a 20-acre land parcel at Rs 706.05 crore.

Inaugurating the facility, CM Stalin said Foxconn was integral to the State's economic growth story and appealed to the electronics major to extend full cooperation to help TN realise the dream of becoming a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

Listing out the various industrial parks developed by his government since returning to power in 2021, Stalin showcased the State’s numero uno position on Niti Ayog’s poverty eradication and clean energy parameters and said the State was the leader in 10 parameters and performed better than the national average in 11 of the 13 other parameters. Pointing out that the State has identified 41,000 of the 45,000-acre land bank it proposed to create, the CM said about 12,500 acres have already been added to the Sipcot land pool.

Foxconn chairman Young Liu sought to control the damage the company faced recently over reports of discrimination against married women in recruitment and said women were a big part of its workforce in Tamil Nadu and married women also contribute greatly to Foxconn’s growth.

The Vallam Vadagal facility’s inauguration comes roughly three years after massive protests by Foxconn employees, especially women, over poor facilities, including food provided to them, led to the company’s closure for about a fortnight. The issue was put to rest after the firm provided better facilities and acquiesced to most of their demands following the State government's and Apple's intervention.