Make in India: Xiaomi opens new smartphone plants in India
What's the story
Furthering its commitment to 'Make in India' initiative, Xiaomi has announced the opening of three new smartphone factories in India. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer is also setting up its first Surface Mount Technology (SMT) plant to locally manufacture printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) units in India. Xiaomi now has six smartphone manufacturing plants in India, its biggest market after China. Here's more.
Saving cost
Xiaomi's first-ever PCB manufacturing unit in India
A PCB is a key component of the smartphone and constitutes nearly 50% of the phone's value. Hence, by manufacturing it locally, Xiaomi is looking to save costs. The company says that by Q3 2018, nearly all of its locally-assembled phones will come with India-made PCBs. Notably, earlier this month, Indian government imposed a 10% tax on import of smartphone components including PCBs.
Twitter Post
Xiaomi's state of the art PCBA unit in Tamil Nadu
PCBA manufacturing is fully automated and involves latest, state of the art technology!
— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) April 9, 2018
Excited to be bringing this latest the best technology to India 🇮🇳#XiaomiSummit #MakeInIndia pic.twitter.com/VmY8GO270Y
Make in India
Xiaomi partners with Foxconn to boost local manufacturing
Xiaomi is setting up these new smartphone plants in partnership with Foxconn. All three factories are located across campuses in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh while the PCB manufacturing unit is located in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. Currently, the factories with Foxconn employ more than 10,000 people, out of which more than 95% are women workers.
Twitter Post
Xiaomi and Foxconn join hands for 'Make in India'
Josh Foulger (MD Foxconn India) gifted me one of 1st ever Made-in-India PCBAs 😇
— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) April 9, 2018
Thank you Josh and Foxconn team for supporting our #MakeInIndia plans! Proud of what we have achieved together in India. #XiaomiSummit pic.twitter.com/D91wI5FALm
Quote
Xiaomi looks to lead from the front
"Xiaomi's high-quality, well-designed products at 'honest prices' have been instrumental in disrupting the Indian smartphone industry. I believe we will continue to play a key role in transforming India into a global manufacturing hub," said Manu Jain, VP Xiaomi (Global) and Managing Director, Xiaomi India.
Driving the change
Xiaomi also wants its component suppliers to manufacture in India
Xiaomi announced the opening of new manufacturing units at its Supplier Investment Summit. The event, which was attended by over 50 electronics component suppliers, was initiated to help these suppliers set-up local manufacturing units in India. Xiaomi said, "If all the suppliers set base in India, this would potentially bring in an added investment of over Rs. 15,000 crore and create 50,000 job opportunities."