Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Indian smartphone maker Lava is in talks to buy Nokia's Chennai factory, according to an English daily.
If the deal happens, it would increase the possibility of thousands of former workers getting a chance at re-employment at the plant that had been regarded as a showpiece of India's manufacturing capabilities.
Reportedly, Lava's manufacturing team has already visited the plant and has done the assessment. It will make a proposal to Nokia mid-December after taking all aspects into consideration. The tax issue needs to be sorted before a final deal is sealed through.
The dispute between Nokia and the government impeded the handset manufacturer to transfer the factory to Microsoft as part of a USD 7.2 billion deal to sell its devices business to the US company.
The dispute is now in court, and Nokia hopes to see the asset freeze imposed by the tax authorities lifted soon. Starting November 1, 2014, Microsoft stopped using Nokia’s Chennai plant to manufacture its devices, which left thousands of workers out of work.
