Salcomp Plc of Finland, a leading manufacturer of mobile phone chargers, will invest about Rs 35 crore (€ 6 million) in a plant at Sriperumbudur, about 45 km west of Chennai.

The plant will come up at the suppliers' park within the manufacturing facility of Nokia, the Finnish telecom equipment manufacturer.

In the first phase, Salcomp's plant will be spread over 75,000 sq ft and about 43,000 sq ft in the second phase. Construction of the plant is scheduled to begin in the first week of July.

According to information provided by Salcomp's spokesperson by email, the plant will also serve Salcomp's customers globally, apart from serving the Indian market. It allows the company to strengthen and balance its global production and logistics. Salcomp has plants in China and Brazil.

The spokesperson said the company would invest € 6 million in the first phase and with further investments, the capacity could be raised to 100 million chargers. Production was scheduled to begin in the first half of 2007.

Leighton bags contract


Leighton Contractors (India) Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Leighton Holdings of Australia, has bagged the order to construct Salcomp's plant. Leighton had also constructed Nokia's plant.

According to Mr Simon Chivers, General Manager - Building, Leighton Contractors (India) Pvt Ltd, Leighton's contract value for the Salcomp plant was $9 million (about Rs 40 crore) in the first phase with a second stage of about $3 million (Rs 15 crore). The plant is scheduled for completion in late February 2007 with hand over of some areas in January.

Two other suppliers of Nokia - Aspocomp Group Oyj and Perlos - have announced their plans to establish plants within the Nokia complex. Together, they will invest Rs 365 crore. Aspocomp will manufacture printed circuit boards and Perlos handset mechanics.