Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has made major inroads into the Indian smartphone market, and the company is selling millions of phones in the country, most of which are apparently made in India. That is what Xiaomi India’s Chief Operating Officer Muralikrishnan B said to reporters today at an event in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh.
“About 99 percent of the phones sold in India are made in the country. We make three phones per second”, said Muralikrishnan B to reporters.
A majority of Xiaomi’s manufacturing needs in the country are handled by Foxconn, within its two plants, one of which is in Sri City special economic zone, and the other in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.
Xiaomi is reportedly also sourcing around 65% of manufacturing components from within India.
He also said that the company has started exporting a small number of smartphones made in India to other countries as well, albeit at a small scale. “With more government incentives, we plan to scale up the export of ‘make in India’ phones,” he said.
Speaking about the challenges faced by the company in exporting India-manufactured smartphones around the world, Muralikrishnan said “BIS certification is not accepted in many parts of the world. If the government can make BIS certification accepted in countries in Europe, it would help us scale”.
The government’s Make in India scheme is majorly responsible for this boost in production inside the country. Foxconn India Country Manager Josh Foulger said “In terms of manufacturing, the progress that India has made in the past 5 years is phenomenal”. He also added that corporate tax relief and the improvement in ease of doing business in the country has helped considerably.
