Nokia to shut down its Chennai plant

Nokia has announced that it will shut down its Chennai plant from 1 November due to Microsoft’s termination of mobile purchase agreement from the factory and it has left with no business. In a press statement, the company said, “Microsoft has informed Nokia that it will be terminating the manufacturing services defined in the agreement with effect from 1 November 2014. In absence of further orders from Microsoft, Nokia will suspend handset production at the Sriperumbudur facility from 1st November.”

Last year in September, the company announced that it will sell its devices and services (D&S) business, including assets in India, to Microsoft for $7.2 billion by March 2014. However, the Chennai facility was not transferred to Microsoft due to some legal issues.

Apart from this Nokia is also trying to relocate maximum of the employees from this facility. The Chennai plant of the company has total 6,600 employees out of which 5,000 employees took the Voluntary Retirement Scheme offered by Nokia.