China's Xiaomi adds manufacturing muscle in India to boost phone production

Byd Electronic (International)

25/02/2021 09:55

BENGALURU, Feb 25 (Reuters) - China's Xiaomi Corp  1810.HK 
is enlisting more contract manufacturers to make its phones in
India, adding heft in a country where it is already one of the
biggest smartphone brands.
    China's BYD and DBG will be the company's new suppliers in
India, Manu Jain, managing director of Xiaomi's India
operations, said at a press conference on Thursday.
    Xiaomi has been manufacturing phones in India for over half
a decade and has rapidly grown in the highly competitive market
where voice calling and data costs are one of the lowest in the
world.
    "Now 99% of our smartphones and 100% of our smart TVs are
manufactured in India and the majority of the components for
smartphones will be locally manufactured or sourced from India,"
the company said.
    The company remained India's top smartphone seller in 2020,
with a 26% market share, data from research firm Counterpoint
showed.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2K23GH
    Its latest expansion plans come at a time when Chinese firms
have come under scrutiny as a result of growing tensions between
New Delhi and Beijing that began with a border clash last year.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2IA0WJ
    Xiaomi said DBG has set up a smartphone manufacturing plant
in the northern Indian state of Haryana, while BYD is setting up
a plant in Tamil Nadu in south India.
    The company has also opened a new factory in the southern
state of Telangana to make televisions, Jain said, adding that
all televisions sold in India would be made or assembled
locally.
    Xiaomi also makes phones at plants in India run by contract
manufacturers Foxconn Technology Co  2354.TW  and Flex Ltd
 FLEX.O .

 (Reporting by  Sankalp Phartiyal in New Delhi and  Philip
George in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
 ((P.George@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8061822657; Reuters
Messaging: p.george@thomsonreuters.net))