Samsung India turns 25, unveils major digital initiatives

Gurugram: As it completes 25 years in India, Samsung on Wednesday unveiled a new vision titled #PoweringDigitalIndia for the country that will be driven by an exciting new citizenship programme aimed at students, a refreshed local research and development strategy with special focus on the local startup community and new initiatives in manufacturing.

Samsung's journey in India dates back to 1995. Since then, the South Korean giant has grown to become the country's largest mobile phone and consumer electronics company with over 70,000 employees and revenues in excess of $10 billion.

It today has two manufacturing facilities (including the world's biggest factory in Noida), five R&D centres and one design centre and 2 lakh retail outlets across the nation.

"At 25, Samsung India is as young and vibrant as New India. Our new vision #PoweringDigitalIndia sets the course for India's future growth, in which Samsung will continue to be its strongest partner," Ken Kang, President and CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia, said in a statement.

The company's R&D centres will continue to work on advanced R&D areas such as 5G, AI, IoT as well as on cloud services and embrace end-to-end thinking to take projects from research to development to the commercialisation stage.

In addition to this, they will expand Open Innovation with startups, students and universities to help strengthen the innovation and startup ecosystem in the country and also augment their in-house innovation capabilities, the company said.

As part of its ePowering Digital India' vision, Samsung will launch a new youth-centric citizenship programme which will involve engineering students and academia from across the country.

The details of the programme will be unveiled soon, the company said.

In India, "Samsung is committed to bridge the digital divide through multiple initiatives in manufacturing, R&D, creation of jobs and entrepreneurship, responsible citizenship and transformational innovations," Kang noted.

Samsung is also planning new initiatives in manufacturing in the country, helping the country develop as an electronics manufacturing and exports hub.

To mark the occasion, Samsung India has launched a logo for the new vision.