Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India campaign is slowly picking up the pace. Gionee, a smartphone maker informed about its first ‘Made in India’ product at Vizag, a coastal city in Andhra Pradesh. The company will manufacture new range of smartphones called the F series, F10 in Sri City region in an association with Foxconn. The Gionee India head Arvind Vohra told reporters that the company doesn’t have enough expertise to directly start full fledge manufacturing. Therefore the management has decided to go ahead with assembling the smartphones initially. In next 5 years company will be able to start complete manufacturing in India.
Manufacturing a phone requires good coordination between suppliers and component manufacturers, which can be achieved in longer time period. Indian smartphone market is growing rapidly. Therefore even Chinese start-ups such as Xiaomi, OnePlus are considering setting up a manufacturing unit in India. Make in India campaign is giving solid policy support to business owners to set up a plant in India. Gionee President William Lu admitted that the India is fastest growing market for smartphones and tablet along with China. Lu told that the company will follow stages to create good manufacturing base in India.
Gionee will focus on below Rs.10, 000 price category as far as made in India smartphones are concerned. If F series is successful in India, the company will go ahead with the manufacturing of S series. Officials hope that by March 2016, the entire range of Gionee smartphones will be made in India.
