— Reuters
CHENNAI: India’s Zetwerk is considering a stock market listing within 24 months, at a time when the contract manufacturer is ramping up electronics production, according to its chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder.
“Global companies are moving production to India.
“This is happening today; this will happen once in our lives probably,” Amrit Acharya, CEO and co-founder of Zetwerk, told reporters.
Electronics manufacturing has gained momentum in India over the last few years as global technology giants, including Alphabet’s Google and Apple, diversify their supply chain away from China.
“India is going to be a long-term bet for any global supply chains,” Josh Foulger, electronics president at Zetwerk, told Reuters.
Zetwerk, which raised roughly US$90mil at a valuation of US$3.1bil last year, has room to invest in its electronics business, Acharya said, adding it plans to go public in the next 15 to 24 months.
The upstart’s peer Dixon Technologies went public in 2017, a year before Acharya co-founded Zetwerk.
Last Saturday, Zetwerk opened its seventh Indian factory in Chennai, aiming to make it an export hub, including for the United States.
The move comes at a time when US president Donald Trump has hit China with extra tariffs, sparking a trade war.
Trump’s policies are expected to boost production in India, but with potential tariffs on India, Acharya said Zetwerk had fast-tracked its European entry by up to four years, signing up a few customers.
Electronics currently account for 15% of revenue at Zetwerk.
In the year ended March 2024, Zetwerk’s sales climbed 26% to 144.36 billion rupees (US$1.66bil), while its net loss widened to 9.19 billion rupees, from 1.09 billion rupees a year earlier. — Reuters
