Xiaomi expands manufacturing in India: All Mi smart TVs now 100% made in India

Xiaomi has announced that it intends to extend its 'Make in India' initiative. The Beijing-based OEM has tied with two new partners - DBG and BYD - to set up new manufacturing plants to make smartphones in India.

DBG has already set up its plant in Haryana and BYD is very close to having its plant in Tamil Nadu be operational.

Once these factories are fully operational, Xiaomi will expand its manufacturing processes to include locally assembled camera modules, PCBA (motherboards), sub-boards, back panels, batteries, cables and chargers to the components it currently makes for its smartphones in India.

When asked about the total percentage of the components made locally compared to components sourced from overseas, Mi India's MD Manu Kumar Jain stressed that it, "was a step by step journey and we will slowly expand as we go along.

For example, we make the battery packs in India but some of the components needed to make that battery may still come from abroad. This is also a great incentive for more local Indian companies to come partner with us once they see what we are doing."

Currently, Xiaomi says the components made locally in India make up 75% of the value of the smartphones and 99% of its smartphones sold in India are assembled locally.

Xiaomi's partnership with DBG has already increased its manufacturing capacity by 20% and BYD is also expected to contribute significantly when the site is operational sometime this year.

Xiaomi also touched upon its smart TV business in the country sharing that it was India's number 1 smart TV brand for 10 consecutive quarters in India.Xiaomi also has a new partner - Radiant Technology - that has a set up a new manufacturing plant in Telangana, with the new plant Xiaomi says that it now makes hundred percent of the smart TV's sold by Mi India in India.

Xiaomi India has also expanded its workforce in the country, with the 'Mi India family' now 60,000 people strong.

The company says that it generated more than 10,000 new jobs with its partners.

"In addition to increase in manufacturing capacity, Mi India has also scaled up its employment generation by 20% to 60,000 which includes employees and third-party manpower,” said Muralikrishnan B, Mi India's COO.

Xiaomi Vice President and India CEO Manu Kumar Jain said that it was ramping up local manufacturing and sourcing of smartphone components. He mentioned that a “majority” of smartphone components have already been manufactured in the country, though he didn't provide any exact numbers of locally-produced components during the briefing.

He also didn't provide any concrete details on how much of its key components are being sourced from China.

The company mentioned in a statement that the components sourced or produced locally in the country contribute to more than 75 percent of the value of smartphones

“Chipsets are coming from different parts of the world,” said Jain. “There are also components coming from Europe and the US, or raw material — if not components.”

The addition of new manufacturing partners is claimed to increase Xiaomi's extended workforce to 60,000 in 2021 from 50,000 in 2020. The workforce comprises partners from manufacturing, after sales, offline sales, logistics, and corporate employees on the company's rolls.

Xiaomi began its local manufacturing in the country by partnering with Foxconn back in August 2015 — months after starting its journey in the Indian market in July 2014.

It later expanded that move by collaborating with Flex as its second partner for making smartphones locally in the country. The company also announced in 2019 that with two of its partners handling domestic production of its phones, it had started selling 99 percent of its phones locally-produced in the country.

Alongside smartphones, Xiaomi produces its smart TVs locally in India. The company started manufacturing its TVs domestically by partnering with Dixon in October 2018

That development has now been expanded with the addition of Radiant Technology, which has set up a manufacturing plant in Telangana.Xiaomi claimed that with the addition of its new manufacturing partner, it is selling 100 percent “Made-in-India” smart TVs in the country.