The Central government on Thursday awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan to Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn Group's CEO and Chairman Young Liu, making him the only foreigner in the list of 17 Padma Bhushan recipients in 2024. Liu was conferred with the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award, on the eve of India's 75th Republic Day.
"India Taipei Association congratulates Chairman and CEO Mr Young Liu of Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) on being conferred one of India's highest civilian awards, Padma Bhushan, in the field of trade and industry. This is a testament to Foxconn's success story in India and India's emergence as an electronics manufacturing hub," the India Taipei Association said in a statement.
Liu said he was "deeply honoured" by the honour and thanked President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, promising to continue collaboration for India's long-term development.
Foxconn's impact in India
Liu, 66, is a highly prominent entrepreneur with four decades of industry experience. After he took over as CEO of Foxconn succeeding Terry Gou in June 2019, the company started making iPhones in India. Apple started making iPhones at the Wistron plant in Bengaluru which has now been acquired by Tata Group.
The Foxconn chairman has an MS degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Southern California and a BS degree in Electrophysics from Taiwan's National Chiao Tung University. He met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July last year and attended the Semicon India conference in Gujarat.
The Taiwan-based company assembles 70% of iPhones in the world and has rapidly expanded its presence in India, particularly in the south, by investing heavily in manufacturing facilities. Foxconn has been diversifying production from China in the wake of geopolitical tensions between the two countries and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under Liu's leadership, Foxconn has joined India Semiconductor Mission through which the country is aspiring to set up a semiconductor ecosystem in the country. Foxconn is in the process of setting up an outsourced semiconductor assembly and test joint venture with HCL Group and will make an initial investment of $37.2 million in the venture.
Liu's company employs 40,000 people and has plans to double its workforce this year. Additionally, Foxconn has a turnover of $10 billion in India and has invested over $8 billion in the country so far. Liu has founded three companies throughout his career which includes a motherboard company, Young Micro Systems in 1988, a northbridge and southbridge semiconductor design company focused on the PC chipset, ITE Tech in 1995 and an ADSL IC design company, ITeX in 1997.
Padma awards for 2024
These Awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March or April every year. For the year 2024, the President has approved conferment of 132 Padma Awards including 2 duo cases (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one) as per the list below.
‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.
The list comprises 5 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 110 Padma Shri Awards. 30 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 8 persons from the category of Foreigners, NRI, PIO, OCI and 9 Posthumous awardees.
(with inputs from agencies)
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