(Reuters) -South Korea’s Samsung Electronics will invest 10 billion rupees ($117.09 million) in its facility in southern India, a minister said on Friday, months after the plant faced worker protests following employee suspensions.
The plant near Chennai has been in the spotlight in recent months after workers staged a sit-in over employee suspensions in February — the second major labour dispute there in under six months.
In September last year, hundreds of workers went on a five-week strike at the plant, seeking higher wages and union recognition before the electronics manufacturer agreed to address workers’ demands. The company’s additional investment “reinforces their faith in the labour force of Tamil Nadu state,” T. R. B. Rajaa, the state’s minister for industries, investment promotion and commerce, said on social media platform X, adding that Samsung would add 100 more jobs to the facility.
The workers’ union is at loggerheads with Samsung, accusing the company of union-busting tactics. Samsung, however, has maintained it is “compliant with all applicable laws.”
It currently employs more than 2,000 people. Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The minister did not give a time frame for the investment.
The factory makes refrigerators, televisions and washing machines, and accounted for a fifth of Samsung’s $12 billion India sales in 2022-23.
($1 = 85.4075 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
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