China’s technology firm Xiaomi said it had set up three new smartphone manufacturing units in India, taking the total number of units to six in the country.
The firm is also hosting its global component suppliers to showcase opportunities in India. These suppliers could potentially bring in as much as ₹15,000 crore in investment while creating as many as 50,000 jobs.
“We had two facilities for smartphone manufacturing earlier,” said Manu Jain, vice president and India managing director, Xiaomi.
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“Now, we have added three more [facilities] in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh and Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. These are in partnership with Foxconn,” he said on Monday. He said that a small number of phones were also being made at Noida with another partner — Hipad.
While the company did not share details about the investments made in the factories, Xiaomi said this would double its manufacturing capacity in India to two phones per second during operational hours.
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Xiaomi is also setting up a new PCB (printed circuit board) assembly unit in Sriperumbudur in partnership with Foxconn. “PCB is 50% of the value of a phone... By Q3, all Xiaomi phones made in India will have PCBs that are locally assembled,” Mr. Jain said. The suppliers being hosted by Xiaomi would be visiting Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to explore opportunities to set up local manufacturing base. “If these companies choose to invest here, there is an investment opportunity of over ₹15,000 crore and can generate employment for over 50,000 people,” he said.
Last month, Mr. Jain had met Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad seeking government support to bring more of its product ecosystem into the country.
A Ministry official told The Hindu that the request came in the backdrop of campaigns from certain segments, leading to anti-Chinese sentiment.