Xiaomi might be known for their meteoric rise in China, but they’re quickly becoming one of the biggest smartphone names in India as well. Earlier this year the Chinese giant crossed the border and officially released the Mi3 and more recently the RedMi Note. Both devices offer experiences arguably far superior to the likes of local names like Micromax and Karbonn, but at more attractive price tags. Xiaomi is apparently shipping over 200,000 devices into India a week, but it looks like they’re ready to start manufacturing their own devices inside of India.
The Economic Times is reporting that Xiaomi is in talks with a number of partners to get manufacturing off the ground in the region. Manu Jain, Head of India Operations for Xiaomi said that they were talking to a number of partners and that they “are beginning to explore, along with these partners, what are the regulatory constraints, the financials around it, how much investment we need to make, tax implications of setting up a manufacturing plant as it is far more complicated.” Apparently, the company had looked to a former Nokia plant in Chennai, but decided against it due to a lack of a component ecosystem available in India.
While it doesn’t appear Xiaomi will be shifting some of their production to India any time soon it would make a lot of sense for the company to do so. Not only would it ensure further success for them in the region, but it would also reduce their reliance on Foxconn, one of their main production partners in China, and a company that has many, many partners to produce devices for. Let’s not forget that it could also be a nice boost for the Indian economy, no longer is Xiaomi just a Chinese name, they’re quickly becoming a worldwide name and as soon as they enter Europe I’ve sure that they will become very, very busy indeed.