Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo are reportedly in discussion with Indian manufacturers about local production of phones and selling them in global markets. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the three largest smartphone brands in China aim to take advantage of cash incentives available to local firms.
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India is the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market. In 2020, the government introduced a production-linked incentive scheme or PLI to boost local production and exports. Cupertino-based giant Apple already takes advantage of this by producing some of its iPhone models in India.
Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo to assemble phones in India
Bloomberg reports that the three Chinese brands are in discussions with Indian manufacturers Lava International and Dixon Technologies. Xiaomi is following up with Dixon Technologies while OPPO and Vivo are in talks with Lava International. If things go well ahead, the brands could assemble phones and begin exporting from their plants as early as this year. However, none of the companies offered to comment on the matter.
Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo aim to benefit from the cash incentives under the government’s PLI scheme by locally producing devices. This will also help the brands to offer devices at affordable price tags in the country. The prices may be different in other markets since they will be exported from India. We can also expect Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo to launch phones with the ‘Assembled in India’ label. The move will also make India an electronics manufacturing hub.
Since the last few years, global manufacturers have been trying to reduce their reliance on China due to the country’s trade conflicts with the US.