Nokia phones Made in India at a plant near the South Indian city of Chennai are being exported to 58 countries.

In the 18 months upto July 2007, Nokia’s Indian plant has turned out 60 million phones.

Buoyed by the success of its Indian operations, Nokia is looking to make the Indian plant an export hub. 

Nokia’s Indian operations have overtaken the U.S. in sales to become the company’s second biggest market after China.

With a population of 1.2 billion people and a strong economy, it’s no surprise that cell phone usage is growing by leaps and bounds in India.

And nobody seems better poised than the global mobile phone leader Nokia to capitalize on the opportunities.

Nokia’s India factory located at Sriperumbudur employs 4700 people, 70 percent of them women.

Nokia executives said the Nokia Telecom Park had received an investment of $500 million with seven global component manufacturers likely to generate in excess of 30,000 jobs when fully functional.
 
Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka  Kallasvuo said:

India hosts a comprehensive Nokia R&D, Manufacturing and Design presence. Moreover, we are also the country’s leading provider of wireless infrastructure through Nokia Siemens Network, the newly merged entity. This not only reiterates our commitment and belief in the market but also underscores India’s emergence as a strategic resource hub for Nokia globally.

Nokia Siemens Networks has committed to investing $100 million in India over the next three years to fund a proposed telecommunication equipment manufacturing facility in the state of Tamil Nadu for wireless network equipment, new offices across various cities, additional development of an existing R&D centre and expanding the Global Networks Solution Centre.