Union sources claimed production at the Chennai plant, considered one of the biggest for Nokia, had declined from 13 million handsets per month to four million per month.
Stretching its reservations on imports from India to multinational companies, Pakistan is understood to have informed mobile handset maker Nokia not to sell phones made in India in the Islamic nation.
Nokia is one of the leading telecom equipment manufacturing companies in India
Nokia, that has already begun manufacturing of 5G equipment at its Chennai plant, is also readying for exporting the products to several key markets like the US.
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This is the third meeting between the two parties, including one in which the Company Law Board had taken part.
The workers who were hired straight out of school as unskilled labourers are now struggling to find alternative employment because they lack skills.
Nokia said that due to an ongoing tax dispute with Indian authorities, it would operate the Chennai factory as a contract manufacturing unit for Microsoft.
Nokia-Microsoft transfer deal transaction is now subject only to certain customary closing conditions.
In yet another setback to Finnish handset maker Nokia, the Tamil Nadu government has slapped on it a Rs 2,400 crore (Rs 24 billion) tax demand notice related to the devices sold from its Chennai factory.
Nokia suffered a jolt on Friday when the Supreme Court refused to lift the restraint on sale of its Indian assets, including the Chennai plant, as part of the handset maker's global deal with the Microsoft.
Nokia said the freezing of the fixed assets would not have any impact on the day-to-day operations of the company.
Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, has signed an agreement with Hutchison India for supplying GSM equipment to its nine of the 13 circles.
Nokia India has seen exports from its telecom Special Economic Zone at Sriperumbudur near Chennai reach Rs 1,650 crore (Rs 16.50 billion) in 2006-07, according to figures provided by the Madras Exports Processing Zone.
In a major outsourcing deal, Nokia has bagged an order to manage Hutch-Essar's mobile network in nine circles for five years
Within a year of selling its handset and services business to Microsoft, Nokia has again entered the mobile devices segment by unveiling a new tablet N1 in partnership with Taiwanese company Foxconn.
Microsoft is lucky to dodge Nokia's tax bill in India. On Dec. 12, the Delhi High Court allowed the Finnish group to transfer its Chennai factory to the U.S. software giant as part of its planned $7.4 billion sale of its mobile handset business.
Following in Apple's footsteps, Alphabet - Google's parent company - is in advanced talks with Foxconn to manufacture Pixel smartphones in Tamil Nadu, an industrial state which will also double up as drone-manufacturing hub for the US tech giant soon. According to a state government release, officials from Google will soon visit Chennai to meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin to hold discussion on manufacturing of Google Pixel near Chennai.
Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she will pursue the matter with the finance ministry
The Nokia India Employees Progressive Union held discussions with the management on Monday. "The wage settlement offered by company is quite low. We are not happy with that," said Union sources.
The company moved the income-tax appellate tribunal and its appeal is pending there.
Ernst & Young is appointed as valuer for Nokia India's Chennai mobile making plant
While the tax holiday for the factory coming to an end might be a factor, many say the business model of Microsoft (which acquired Nokia's handset division last year), as well as freebies offered by the Vietnamese government, might also have played a role.
'Samsung declared they would not allow the presence of any trade union.' 'This is unacceptable as the rule of law in India permits employees to have a trade union.' 'So, the crux of the strike is this.'
The Department refused to allow transfer of the plant till the dues claimed by the department are not remitted by the company.
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Besides staging a hunger strike on March 31 in Chennai, the Nokia India Employees Union have decided to further step up their protest post the Lok Sabha elections.
The high court court on Thursday accepted Nokia's appeal to release its local factory after its seizure by authorities in a tax dispute, removing a hurdle for the sale of the company's mobile phone business to Microsoft.
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The court observed that the Sales Tax Department ought to have given an opportunity to Nokia and heard its objections over the Rs 2,400-crore tax dispute.
Income Tax Department has slapped fresh tax notice on Nokia India, tax authorities said.
The government has approved a Rs 675 crore (Rs 6.75 Special Economic Zone by Finnish telecom major Nokia near Chennai.
The Income Tax department has informed the Delhi High Court that Nokia India and Nokia Corporation owe it Rs 21,153 crore (Rs 211.53 billion) as total tax liability (existing and anticipated), including penalty during a seven-year period from 2006-2013.
Nokia, which shipped 25 million handsets from its Chennai handset plant last year, is readying itself for a bigger expansion that includes increase in exports and ramping up of its ecosystem at its special economic zone in Chennai.
The Nokia plant near Chennai started operations in 2006.
Nokia Siemens Networks plans to increase manpower at its Global Network Solutions Centre (GNSC) in Chennai to 1,800 from 1,000 by the end of 2011 to meet growing demand.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will lay the foundation stone for the $150 million Nokia mobile phone manufacturing facility at suburban Sriperumpudur on March 11.
In more trouble for Finnish mobile firm Nokia, whose immovable assets were attached in an alleged tax evasion case recently, the Income Tax department is set to issue fresh demand notices for payment of taxes to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion).
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