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Will Foxconn Revive The Nokia Factory?

According to the report by The Economic Times, the Nokia factory based in Chennai has fresh troubles. The biggest hurdle ahead is the humongous tax dispute. Government officials had earlier approached Foxconn Founder Terry Gou. The Government hopes to revive the plant and is said to have discussed the proposed sale of the Nokia factory in Chennai.

An official is said to have told ET that “We can say we have broken the ice with Foxconn. Now, the next task at hand is to ensure the aspirations of Foxconn and the Indian government are aligned, and to make sure the Tamil Nadu government also finds it a worthy enterprise to get Foxconn to reopen the factory,”

Nokia has been under fire for an estimated INR 21,000 crore tax dispute with the income tax department. The task ahead for the Government would be to release the facility from the tax dispute to further the possibilities of Foxconn’s take over of the factory.

The Centre and the State governments hope that after Supreme Court had dismissed Nokia’s move to defreeze the factory, forcing the company to drop the Microsoft deal in October 2014. The government looks forward to revive the 212 acre factory in an attempt to cash on the employment and other economic opportunities.

ET has also mentioned in the reports that, “Secretary at Department of Electronics and IT Aruna Sharma from Finland stated that there was progress at a meeting called by the Deity of various departments including officials from the revenue department to reach consensus over how to extricate the 212 acre asset from the 3-year tax wrangle.” Reports also claimed that Foxconn is to draft an official letter with respect to the Nokia factory in Chennai.

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