Xiaomi increases Indian smartphone manufacturing capacity by 20%
Xiaomi has announced new partnerships with Indian companies, DBG and BYD, to up its local smartphone manufacturing capabilities as part of efforts to solidify its position as the nation's favourite smartphone brand.
The two partners, DBG and BYD, have a smartphone manufacturing plant in Haryana and Tamil Nadu, respectively.
The new partnerships are expected to increase Xiaomi's manufacturing capacity in India by more than 20% and support the local government's Make in India initiative, Xiaomi said.
The Make in India initiative was set up by the Indian government in late-2014 to encourage companies to manufacture in India.
Xiaomi explained that the new partnerships would result in more than 99% of its Indian smartphones being made locally, with the majority of smartphone components, such as the motherboard, sub board, camera module, battery, back panel, USB cable, and chargers, to be locally sourced or locally manufactured.
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Prior to these new partnerships, Xiaomi's Indian smartphone manufacturing was conducted all via Foxconn and Flex.
"2020 was an exceptional year, the pandemic led to multiple challenges disrupting the entire global and India supply chain. Despite this, the Mi India team worked together to further expand our local supply chain and manufacturing capability," Xiaomi India managing director Manu Kumar Jain said.
Xiaomi has also set up a new manufacturing plant in partnership with Radiant Technology that is specifically dedicated to making TVs.
With the new TV manufacturing plant going live, all of Xiaomi's Indian smart TVs will now be made locally, the company said.
Combined, Xiaomi will add 10,000 people to its Indian workforce, amounting to a total of 60,000 employees in the country.
"This 60,000-strong workforce has been built over the last six years since its inception in 2014 -- and comprises partners from manufacturing, after-sales, offline sales, logistics, and corporate employees," Xiaomi said.
Xiaomi has been India's most popular smartphone brand since 2019, taking up more than 28% of the Indian market, while Samsung only accounted for around 25%. Looking at the Indian smartphone space as a whole, over 66% of India's market share is owned by Chinese brands.
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