At a time when the government is pushing the ‘Make in India’ campaign, Swedish telecom equipment major Ericsson is starting its second manufacturing plant in India.

$15-m investment The manufacturing unit is being set up at the Indospace Industrial Park, Chakan, Pune and will serve as an export hub for the company. Ericsson will invest $15 million initially and the production is expected to start in 2016.

Ericsson already has a facility in Jaipur where it makes telecom gear for domestic market.

The new plant in Pune will serve as an export hub for the company’s exports into South East Asia, West Asia and Sub Saharan Africa.

Chris Houghton, Head of Region India, Ericsson, said: “The positive customer response that we are getting in the Indian market, the strong manufacturing competence that exists and the potential for exports from India are factors that have encouraged us to set up this manufacturing facility in Pune.”

More products on cards To start with, the company will manufacture Minilinks, which optimises traffic aggregation and capacity savings for telecom operators. Ericsson plans to add other 2G, 3G and 4G-related products going forward.

“The concept of export hub aligns with Ericsson’s strategy to move and the delivery point closer to the customer thus enabling shorter order to delivery lead time and optimised distribution costs. Given its location advantage, good infrastructure and availability of manpower, we see the Pune facility becoming an export hub catering to markets around the region in the long term,” Houghton said. Ericsson in India now has the largest number of employees making it the largest operations for the telecom equipment maker in the world.

With 19,400 employees spread across manufacturing, research & development, global network operating centre and sales operations, Ericsson India is a reflection of the company’s set up at its headquarters in Sweden.

Providing managed services The Global Network Operations Center located in India provides managed services to more than 400 million subscribers in 49 countries.

“The Pune unit is another significant milestone towards strengthening our commitment to India,” Houghton added.

First multinational player Ericsson is among the first multinational player to make investments into India after the new Government announced the ‘Make in India’ plan.

Other technology majors including Cisco and IBM are also looking to invest significant amount to set up production facilities in the country.

Cisco , for example, has given a proposal to invest $5 billion in India if the government gives adequate support.