Layam Group —a significant provider of trained people to Apple manufacturing partners including Foxconn, Tata Electronics, and Pegatron — is planning to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) during the next financial year to fund its expansion aspirations. The Chennai-based company is targeting over a 40 per cent gain in its income in the next two years, thanks to a surge in electronic sector investments in Tamil Nadu, with players like Apple going on an expansion drive. Apple is apparently planning to boost India’s contribution of its worldwide iPhone manufacture to 25 per cent in the next three to four years.
“We are anticipating our revenue to expand from Rs 350 crore to above Rs 500 crore in the next two years. Our objective is to go for an IPO in 2025-26,” stated G Ramesh, Chairman of Layam Group. The organization has a presence in several sectors, including human resources solutions, recruitment, staffing, contract manufacturing, training, and business consultancy, servicing the demands of diverse businesses across India.
“The electronics sector is expected to create millions of jobs in India in the next few years, with many global companies looking at investment opportunities in India. Moreover, the sector is producing a lot of jobs for women,” Ramesh remarked. The organization has so far attracted over 20,000 female blue-collar employees around the country. He underlined that Tamil Nadu is seeing a lot of such investments in the electronics sector, and Layam itself is seeking to break into the manufacturing sector.
In electronics, the state is the number one exporter in India, with exports reaching $9.56 billion in FY24, up 78 percent from $5.37 billion in FY23 and far ahead of Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. According to industry experts, one of the major reasons for the rise in exports is the China-Plus-One strategy of global majors like Apple, following which its contractors like Foxconn and Pegatron, and suppliers like Salcomp, contributed to the rise of Tamil Nadu as the country’s electronic hub last year. Coined in 2013, China-Plus-One is a worldwide business strategy in which corporations avoid investing just in China and spread their enterprises to alternative places.
“We expect to see a huge boost in the electronics sector in India due to the China-Plus-One policy,” he stated. The listing aspirations by the personnel provider come at a time when Apple has committed to an export target of $9 billion in FY25 and has already completed 45 percent of the target in the first four months.
Apple Inc. is scheduled to get its fourth iPhone assembly factory in India soon, being built by its key contract manufacturer Tata Electronics, and is slated to start production in November. The unit in Tamil Nadu’s Hosur will be the second iPhone assembly plant by Tata Electronics after its acquisition of the Wistron unit.
First Published: Sep 04 2024 | 10:29 PM IST