Wistron assured of speedy probe into plant violence | Economic Times

New Delhi: India assured Apple contract manufacturer Wistron of a speedy and fair investigation into Saturday’s violence at its Bengaluru iPhone plant, said officials with knowledge of the matter. A high-level meeting chaired by the cabinet secretary on Tuesday took stock of the incident as the government reached out to all stakeholders to quickly resolve the issue and restart production.The Centre wants to limit damage to the country’s image as it’s pushing for big-ticket investments in manufacturing with new production-linked incentive schemes lined up for various sectors, the officials said.The Karnataka government has been asked to complete the enquiry expeditiously and the Centre has also reached out to Apple to offer the assurance that all issues will be resolved quickly, they said. “The ground-level situation was ascertained from state officials,” said one of them.79750539Optimistic About Future: Wistron"They have been asked to ensure that the issues, if any, are resolved expeditiously and a fair and speedy enquiry is conducted," said the official. They have also been asked to ensure production resumes quickly.Wistron told the state government in a letter that it had been distressed by the violence but is "optimistic" about the future."In this difficult hour, we appreciate the support we have got from the government of Karnataka. We are working closely with (it) to ensure such incidents do not recur and support the police investigations," Sudipto Gupta, managing director, innovation business group, Wistron Smart Devices, said in the note. "We bring the best of practices worldwide to our plant and operations and want to protect workers’ interests. We will work together with the state government to ensure plant operations are resumed at the earliest."Wistron said it was committed to India, which is key to its global plans, and will look to expand its presence in this "very important" market. A mob of about 7,000 people that included workers damaged the iPhone maker’s Narasapura plant on Saturday, angered by delayed wages and overtime, which should have been paid to them by third-party contractors, police officials said. Police have arrested about 150 people in connection with the incident.Senior officials from the Niti Aayog, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and the Karnataka government were present at the meeting chaired by cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba to ascertain the ground-level situation."At a time when India wants to become a global manufacturing hub, we cannot have such incidents of vandalism and need to assure investors of fair and speedy investigation as well as safety and support to carry out their operations without fear," another senior government official told ET.Karnataka officials spoke to the Taiwan company’s management on Tuesday evening, assuring it of a speedy investigation and safety. DPIIT and the Niti Aayog have been in regular touch with state authorities and Wistron since the incident. The labour ministry has also sought a report from local authorities on the incident, ET reported on December 15. “Both the state government and the Centre are working together to get the production line restarted,” said a third official.The state’s preliminary findings suggest that that the row may have been sparked by software programmed for eight-hour shifts not recognising longer stints, resulting in payment delays, said people familiar with the matter.Apple has also launched its own inquiry and is said to be examining whether Wistron violated vendor guidelines.India has been moving aggressively to turn itself into a global manufacturing hub, not just for smartphones but also for other electronic products such as laptops, tablets and servers. The production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for smartphones has already attracted billions of dollars in investment and production commitments from iPhone contract makers Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron, besides South Korean giant Samsung. In a bid to meet its first-year PLI target, Wistron scaled up its investments and hirings rapidly. Thus, there may not have been enough time to conduct thorough background checks on hires, which could have played a role in the incident at the Narasapura facility, said some of the people.