Huawei’s embattled Indian subsidiary is to spend $500 million on research and manufacturing in Bangalore.
A company spokesperson has confirmed the five-year investment, which was announced by Huawei India CEO Max Yang in an interview with FT.com today.
Yang said the company wanted its Indian business to be seen as a “local operation” and to dispel a “mystique” surrounding the vendor.
The planned upgrade follows a series of setbacks in the Indian equipment market for the fast-growing vendor. Last year it was excluded from BSNL contracts because of security concerns, with government officials ruling Chinese vendors could not win contracts to networks in New Delhi or sensitive border areas.
A month ago it was one of five Chinese vendors penalized for dumping SDH equipment with tariffs of up to 236%.
The FT said senior executives had conceded they needed to do more to win the support of officials and politicians in the Indian telecom market.
Under the spending plan, staff numbers in India will increase by a half to 6,000 as the company expands its Bangalore R&D center to make it a resource for its global operations. The center is already the company’s largest offshore research facility, mostly developing telecom software.
The company also plans to open a manufacturing unit in India that it says would help it avoid future anti-dumping penalties. The manufacturing plant could be up and running later this year, FT reported.