St. Pete manufacturer to add 5,000 jobs — in India

St. Petersburg technology manufacturer Jabil Inc. is expanding in India, with a new $238 million facility that is expected to bring 5,000 jobs.

The company announced the news Tuesday saying it had reached an agreement with Tamil Nadu's state government to expand into India’s southern city of Tiruchirappalli.

According to Jabil, Tamil Nadu state government officials M.K. Stalin, chief minister, and T.R.B. Rajaa, minister for industries, came to Chicago to sign to sign the memorandum of understanding with the company.

The new facility will support Jabil’s cloud and data center business. The company confirmed the cost of the expansion and the number of jobs but could not provide further details Tuesday. 

This is not Jabil’s first foray into India. The company currently operates an 858,000-square-foot facility in the Ranjangaon Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation Zone Pune, a city in southwest India.

There it manufactures components for the automotive, consumer electronics, digital home, point of sale and telecommunications industries.

Matt Crowley, Jabil’s executive vice president global business, says in the statement the expansion allows the company to “grow with the future needs of our customers and complement our existing facility in Pune.”

Jabil is a multinational manufacturing company that makes parts for major companies.

Its net revenue, according to its third quarter earnings report released in June, was down 20.1% to $6.8 billion when compared with the same time period last year.