Amazon to fire up Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme, plans production in Chennai

Amazon’s Fire TV Stick is all set to shortly acquire a ‘Made in Tamil Nadu’ flavour with a slice of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ in it. The American multinational giant has decided to get its popular Fire TV Sticks manufactured at Chennai and follow it up with other electronic products as well.

The Fire TV Sticks will be manufactured for the retail giant by Cloud Network Technology, a subsidiary of Foxconn. Production is expected to begin this year and the deal has been finalised with some push from the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme, which provides financial assistance to the manufacturing sector, with the aim of achieving a self-reliant India. This was one of the slew of schemes announced by the Modi government during the COVID-19 pandemic to revive the economy. Manufacturers are being provided with production-linked financial incentives to produce in India.

Amazon’s device manufacturing programme will be able to produce hundreds of thousands of Fire TV Stick devices every year, according to the Ministry of Electronics & IT, which has been working on such deals to boost ‘Made in India’ products to rev up the pandemic-hit economy and create jobs, thus making up for the reverses suffered during the pandemic.

Also read: Chennai to get India’s first Amazon devices manufacturing line

The Amazon Fire TV Sticks produced in India will initially cater to demand within the country, replacing the imported devices sold in India until now. Amazon will continuously evaluate scaling capacity depending on the domestic demand, a statement issued by the ministry said.

Before Amazon made the announcement today, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad spoke to Amit Agarwal, Amazon’s country head for India through video conferencing. He suggested that Amazon India should market products made by Indian artisans, and India’s Ayurvedic products all over the world through its e-commerce platform.

A range of issues related to digital sector were discussed during this meeting, the statement said. Apart from being the country head for Amazon India, Amit Agarwal is also a global senior vice-president for the American transnational corporation.

“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 scheme has received tremendous response globally. 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,” Ravi Shankar Prasad said after his interaction with Amit Agarwal. He added that it is only a beginning for Amazon’s efforts to manufacture electronics products from India for India and export markets.

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The statement said India has taken several key steps to encourage electronics manufacturing in India. The PLM for large scale electronics manufacturing has emerged as a major success with many international companies commencing production of electronics goods from India. The entry of Amazon in this sector adds to the success story of electronics manufacturing in India, the statement added.

Prasad also killed two birds with one stone by writing about Amazon’s decision to manufacture out of Chennai, on the recently launched Indian rival to Twitter – Koo.

“Under the leadership of Modi, electronics manufacturing in India has recently attracted some of the biggest investments from global giants. Happy to share Amazon India is the latest to join this success story of India,” he said on the social media platform being pitched against Twitter, following recent controversies over blocking certain handles.

“Amazon is a global company but Amazon India must evolve as a truly India company deeply connected with Indian business community and culture,” Prasad said. After COVID-19 knocked the wind out of Indian economy’s sails, the government announced several schemes aimed at creating a self-reliant India under the Atmanirbhar Bharat umbrella.