By Ha Man-joo, India correspondent, AsiaToday - Foxconn has finally confirmed its investment plan in India on Saturday. It will invest $5 billion over five years, which is more than twice as much as expected previously.

Chairman of Foxconn Technology Terry Gou and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the World Trade Centre in Mumbai. They met seven times in the last two months for the negotiation.

Guo said, "We searched for other states as well, but we came to focus on Maharashtra. Apart from manufacturing plants, we will also build research and development facilities as well." In a TV interview, he said, "The Pune plant will focus on production, innovation and research and development. We want to expand our base after setting it up in Pune."

Local media outlets, including The Times of India, reported that the world's largest electronics assembly manufacturer has an ambition of building factories in all states of India, the next IT hub in the world, in the spirit of the 'Make in India' initiative.

Foxconn chose Maharashtra over other states because it has a leading financial centre, and is home to quality talent and software-hardware integration facilities, Gou said.

Foxconn is planning to manufacture Apple's iphones, iPads, laptops and silicon chips in Maharashtra. Foxconn also entered a partnership with Asia's largest filmmaker Whistling Woods International and a media arts technology school on contents production. The company plans to develop its software-hardware blending sector with contents from Bollywood.

The state government said the Foxconn would generate a minimum of 50,000 jobs in the state, and offered 1,500 acres in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) estate, which will be handed over by February 2016. Two land parcels have been demarcated by the state, while one of the land parcels is in Prune and the other is near Mumbai. The plant is expected to generate in 2018.