OPPO is set to open its own brick-and-mortar stores in India and ramp up its local efforts related to Android-powered consumer electronics as part of its latest move to strengthen its presence in the second largest smartphone market on the planet. The tech giant on Tuesday received approval from a competent body in India to essentially start a new retail chain in the country that’s solely dedicated to selling its first-party offerings. The approval itself was given in the context of India’s wider efforts to attract more major companies to the country, not just in terms of their commercial presence but also manufacturing operations. The so-called single-brand retail chains such as the one OPPO is planning to open are legally allowed to operate in the South Asian country so long as 30 percent of their offerings are produced domestically.
If OPPO is to start a new single-brand retail chain in India tomorrow, the company still wouldn’t be required to momentarily start sourcing its products locally and would instead have a period of three years to make the necessary adjustments and start manufacturing some of its goods in the country. The three-year adjustment period became part of New Delhi’s initiative only recently, having been enacted in 2016 as part of a wider effort to attract more foreign companies to the country but allow them to enter its economy in a gradual manner instead of discouraging them with a long list of prerequisites.
The “Make in India” initiative is another aspect of the country’s endeavors to incentivize potential investors, having originally been introduced three years ago with the goal of turning India into one of the major smartphone manufacturers on the planet. The country still isn’t anywhere close to achieving that goal, with some industry watchers and insiders claiming that a general lack of skilled workforce is preventing original equipment manufacturers from setting up shop in India. The Make in India initiative was introduced around the time Nokia suspended all of its operations in the country following a high-profile tax dispute with New Delhi and while several tech giants like Foxconn previously pledged to build more manufacturing facilities in India, most of those promises are yet to be fulfilled.