In an effort to contribute to the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the e-commerce major Amazon has said that it will begin manufacturing television streaming devices, starting with Fire TV stick devices, in India. This will be Amazon’s first manufacturing line in India, which will be set up in Chennai.
Although the company has not revealed the amount it plans to invest, Amazon said it will start making the devices through Cloud Network Technology, a subsidiary of its manufacturing partner Foxconn Technology Group. The production is set to begin later this year in the Chennai facility, Amazon said on Tuesday.
“We are delighted to announce Amazon’s first manufacturing line in India to produce hundreds of thousands of Fire TV Stick devices every year catering to the demands of the Indian customers. This further reiterates our commitment to the government of India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative,” said Amit Agarwal, SVP & Country Head, Amazon India.
Union Minister for Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad held discussions with Amit Agarwal on Tuesday.
“India is an attractive investment destination and is poised to become a major player in the global supply chain in the electronics and IT products industry. Our government’s decision to launch a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme has received a tremendous response globally,” said Ravi Shankar Prasad.
“We welcome Amazon’s decision to set up a manufacturing line in Chennai, as it will enhance domestic production capacities, and create jobs as well. This will further our mission of creating an Atmanirbhar Bharat, which is digitally empowered,” he added.
In a statement, Amazon said that the device manufacturing programme will be able to produce hundreds of thousands of Fire TV stick devices every year, catering to the demands of its customers in India. “Amazon will continuously evaluate scaling capacity to additional marketplaces or cities, depending on the domestic demand,” the company added.
Amit Agarwal said that Amazon is committed to partnering with the Indian government to advance the vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. "We have pledged to invest $1 billion to digitise 10 million small and medium businesses, to help Indian businesses sell worldwide, thereby enabling US $10B in cumulative exports, and to create an additional one million jobs by 2025,’ he said.