Ashok Kumar Gupta, the Chairman of Optiemus Infracom, anticipates commencing the production of Corning Gorilla glass in India by the conclusion of 2024.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18 at the India Mobile Congress 2023, Gupta revealed that the company is looking at states such as Tamil Nadu and Telangana to establish a manufacturing facility for Gorilla glass.

In September, Optiemus Infracom and Corning International Corporation unveiled a 70:30 joint venture aimed at establishing India's inaugural manufacturing plant for crafting high-quality finished cover glass components for the mobile consumer electronics sector.

In addition to this endeavour, Optiemus Infracom is poised to manufacture drones in India. Gupta underscored the significance of localisation and expressed enthusiasm about the comprehensive research and development prospects it offers.

He stated, “Earlier we never got a chance for localisation because research and development (R&D) was done by somebody else, supply chain was controlled by somebody else and we were just assembling. Now gradually we are going into localisation. Drones is the first project where I am excited that R&D will be completely done in India. Since R&D is done in India, we can easily do localisation which is the need of the hour.”

“Our focus as a company is that one division should focus only on R&D for the next 5-10 years. Labour cost is good in India- nobody can compete with us. However drones is one project where we have the opportunity for R&D, manufacturing, employment and gradually we will be able to export because of the geopolitical situation,” Gupta further elaborated.