Workers at a production workshop of Foxconn's technology park in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province on July 24, 2021. The park is a major global smartphone manufacturing base. Photo: VCG

Apple's major contract manufacturer Foxconn is expanding its recruitment at several plants in the Chinese mainland with higher wages and bonuses, amid extended closure of its Indian plant after a mass food-poisoning incident.

Chinese industry analysts said the incident underscored growing risks and challenges for foreign companies in the Indian market, while the Chinese industry chain remains stable.

Media reports said that a Foxconn iPhone factory in India at the center of a mass food-poisoning incident will extend a week-long closure by three days.

The Indian factory, which employs some 17,000 people, had been due to resume some operations on Monday, but it is now expected to restart production with 1,000 workers on Thursday, reports said.

That could pose disruptions to the company's shipment of the iPhone13 series and other products. 

Meanwhile, Foxconn's factories in China are ramping up recruitment, with some plants needing at least 2,000 new workers, industry insiders told the Global Times.

A recruitment manager for Foxconn plants in South China's Shenzhen told the Global Times on Tuesday that they are offering one-time bonuses of up to 5,500 yuan ($863), up from 4,600 yuan earlier this month, for formal workers after working for 90 days.

"We would not raise wages should there be enough hands," the manager said, adding that demand for new workers is huge.

The recruitment expansion is a nationwide activity for Foxconn. A person close to the Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province, where another major production line for the iPhone13 series is located, said that it needs at least 2,000 new workers.

Although the person refused to comment on whether there was a direct connection between the recruitment expansion and the incident in India, he said that some production capacity is shifting between factories in and outside China due to the epidemic and other issues.

Foxconn may not recognize the connection between the Indian incident and recruitment at its Chinese factories, but as a unified production system, there will definitely be global capacity allocation among plants, Ma Jihua, an independent industry analyst, told the Global Times on Tuesday, referring to previous recruitment expansions in the mainland after production disruptions in countries such as Vietnam and India due to the outbreak.

Industry insiders said that Foxconn's incident in India is not an isolated case given the poor working conditions in India.

"On the one hand, this shows that India has a lot to improve to be a major manufacturing country. On the other hand, it also highlights the improvement of China's manufacturing industry," Ma said.

Apple's contract manufacturers have been expanding productions from the Chinese mainland to other countries such as India. But, progress has not been smooth.

In December 2020, Apple's mobile phone foundry Wistron's factory in Narasapura, India, was violently damaged. Nearly 2,000 workers smashed windows and set fire to cars in protest against wage cuts, Indian media reported.