Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo to make phones in India and export them globally: Report

Leading Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo are reportedly in talks with Indian manufacturers to make phones in the country and export them to other markets. According to a new report by livemint, Xiaomi Corp, Oppo and Vivo are holding talks with Lava International Ltd and Dixon Technologies India Ltd to assemble the phones in India and export them as early as this year. India Today Tech has reached out to Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Lava separately to seek further clarity on the matter and will update the story when and if they respond.

The report further suggests Oppo and Vivo have begun discussions with Lava while Xiaomi is courting Dixon. Vivo has previously talked about increasing its annual production in India to 60 million units and starting exports by the end of 2022. All companies are looking to benefit from the government's Production-Linked Incentive or PLI to start production. The Indian government has been welcoming smartphone makers for a while now in order to push the country as the next hub for electronics production. PLI was introduced in the same direction in 2020.

India is the second largest smartphone market after China. Still, the country is largely dependent on other regions for its electronics consumption. Most smartphone makers have started assembling their phones in the country, but the latest step can further strengthen India's position in the global market.

The manufacturers are also keen on reducing their dependency on one country. The last couple of years have been challenging for the electronics industry because of several reasons - chip shortage, global pandemic and geopolitical tensions. China's bitter trade war with the United States has also forced the smartphone makers to re-think their strategy, the report claims.

The Indian smartphone market is set to take off over the coming years. According to a report by Deloitte, smartphone shipments in India are expected to reach 1.7 billion units from 2022 to 2026 creating a market of $250 billion on the back of major policy reforms and telcos reviving their businesses. The same report suggested that India will have a smartphone user base of nearly 1 billion by 2026 and will be the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the next five years.

The incentive program can play a key role in this. Several major names have signed up for the government incentives program since it was unveiled in mid-2020. The program aims to create $150 billion in mobile phone production over five to six years.