Mumbai:(IANS) Taiwanese global electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology will invest $5 billion in Maharashtra over the next three years in manufacturing, research and development facilities, creating 50,000 new jobs, it was announced here on Saturday.

To be based near Pune on a proposed 1,500 acre facility, this is billed as one of the biggest single FDI announcements in the country since the launch of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make In India and Digital India initiatives.

“This would take us ahead on the path of making Narendra Modiji’s and our dream of Make In India and Make In Maharashtra true,” Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said after witnessing the signing of the MoU with Hon Hai Precision Industry Company, Taiwan, known by its trade name of Foxconn Technology.

“It’s an investment of five billion dollars for electronic manufacturing facilities in next three years… This will create 50,000 jobs,” Fadnavis tweeted shortly afterwards.

The MoU is an outcome of seven meetings between Fadnavis and Foxconn Technology founder-chairman Terry Gou in the past couple of months.

Gou cited strong leadership besides being a financial hub with a large talent pool and ability to integrate software and hardware as the reasons for Maharashtra being selected for the mega-deal which would entail manufacturing of TFT screens and semiconductors.

However, Gou declined to comment whether the company would also manufacture its famous Apple i-Phone, one of its flagship businesses, citing confidentially clauses.

Fadnavis said that he had visited Foxconn’s plant during his visit to China  – where it has its largest manufacturing base – in May and invited them to invest in the state. The invitation became a reality within four months with the signing of today’s MoU.

“As per statistics, our electronic imports will surpall crude import by 2030. In this background, I see this as a very important MoU,” Fadnavis said.

A team of 70 were working on the deal for the past two months which was ultimately finalized at 3 a.m. on Saturday, Gou revealed.

Officials said that Foxconn would be located in at least two to three sites in the state, with the main manufacturing plant over 900 acres expected to come up near Talegaon, in Pune, with a R&D hub along with a Smart City for employees with schools, colleges and other infrastructure.

The second site could come up near Khalapur or surroundings, in Raigad district adjoining Mumbai, but the Foxconn will take the final decision in the matter.

Besides this, Gou said Foxconn would scout for local partners for its investments in the state and he had already met top officials from Tata Sons, Tata Consultany Services, Bharat Forge, Shapoorji Pallonji.

Additonally, the company has entered a tie-up with Bollywood filmmaker Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods International with a grant for a media lab at its campus in Goregaon East.