A recent move by the Finnish mobile manufacturing giant Nokia has indicated the growing importance of its Chennai facility. Reports say that the company has entered into a wage pact which will see an increment of the salaries of about one-third of its employees. The salaries can be hiked by up to 200%.
Sources familiar with the development said that about 3,000 employees of the 9,000 staff who work at the facility will now earn Rs. 21,000, which is up from Rs. 7,000. Moreover, the employees will also receive other hikes in varying degrees.
The agreement was recently signed in presence of the officials. Nokia was once considered to be the leader in the mobile phone market and in recent times it has been steadily losing its market share to rivals like Samsung and Apple, who have been dominating the smartphone segment for the past couple of years.
By taking certain steps, the company hopes to win back some of the lost ground through its Lumia series of smartphones, which was launched recently. Nokia, these days is also dealing with a tax claim by Indian authorities, who have alleged that the company has defaulted to the tune of Rs. 3,000 crore by improper accounting practices.
