Foxconn’s Project Elephant Transforms Devanahalli into Real Estate Hotspot

A rural town is changing into a real estate hot spot. Devanahalli of Bengaluru will now be home to Foxconn’s “Project Elephant”, a 13 million square foot site. The facility would be Foxconn’s second-largest factory outside China and create 40,000 jobs.

This factory aims at broader efforts to diversify the supply chain amid the ongoing US-China trade war. With this, the company aims to double their iPhone production in India up to 30 million units. Foxconn’s Devanahalli project, approved by the local government in 2023, is the biggest in an agricultural belt known for pomelos, blue grapes, and silk, among other things. And due to the new project, the pricing of the property in the region has risen by 35%.

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However, while many farmers in the region have come around, some continue to hold out, demanding higher compensation for the land.

The entry of Foxconn would open a huge market in the region. And they have already tied up with local real estate developers to house its workforce coming from China and Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines and Taiwan.

According to PropPulse, some 60 residential projects, including apartments, villas, and plots, are underway within a 20-kilometer radius. Prices range from $40,000 to nearly $700,000.

Developers are marketing properties within a 10-kilometer radius of Project Elephant as “near Foxconn” — a strategy that has paid off, with listings doubling over the past three years.

However, the shift from farming to industry hasn’t been as smooth as expected. As land transactions continue, developers acknowledge that negotiations with farmers remain complex and are often drawn out.

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Last year, farmers in the region had staged a protest which led to 13 villages receiving notices of acquisition from the state authority. Farmers in Devanahalli also has staged a protest while fencing was being set up for Foxconn’s land acquisition, claiming they had not received proper compensation for their land.