Chinese smartphone giant, Vivo is all set to establish its second manufacturing facility in India with an investment of Rs 4,000 crore in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Vivo is one of the largest smartphone companies in the world with 2 plants in China, 1 in India and 1 in Indonesia. This will be the fifth manufacturing facility of Vivo and now production in India will rival to that in China. The company has put a total investment of Rs 4000 crore for the plant facility with 800 crore of initial investment. The plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2019 and will create more than 5,000 jobs. “Vivo had been in talks with the Uttar Pradesh government for over a year to set up a new mega manufacturing park in the state. By virtue of local manufacturing, Vivo has also invested in single-brand retailing. It has taken ownership of the online store and is now opening company-owned brick-and-mortar stores,” said Nipun Marya, Vivo India director (brand strategy).
Chinese smartphone companies has dominated Indian markets in last few years, the consumer spending on top four Chinese smartphone manufacturers- Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Honor doubled year-on-year to cross 50,000 crore. The highest growth was posted by Vivo India with 77.6 percent to 11,179.3 crore. The plant will not only cater to exponentially growing domestic markets but international markets as well. “This will support our India demand since the existing plant has reached its full capacity. It will also cater to Vivo’s global expansion through exports as we are already present in 16 countries globally. The first phase will almost double our current production capacity of 25 million units per annum. We also want to deepen our component manufacturing,” said Nipun Marya. Vivo’s existing 50 acre plant is Greater Noida already employs 5,000 people to produce mobile components locally.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics recently set up world’s largest mobile phone manufacturing facility in Noida with an investment worth Rs 4,915 crore. India has overtaken the United States of America to become the 2nd largest manufacturer of smartphone in the world. Make in India has turned around the waves in India’s favor making India a global hub for smartphone manufacturing which is the principal aim of the policy. In 2014, there were only 2 manufacturing units in India but since the launch of ‘Make in India’ which propelled the scene in an impressive manner, the number has increased to 123 units in 2017. The government has also decided to promote domestic manufacturing of major appliances like refrigerators, water coolers, microwave ovens, washing machines, dishwashers, and air conditioners. These goods are also called white goods and this industry is worth more than 30,000 crore.
India has very strong ecosystem for software front but hardware industry is still in nascent stage. As per National Policy on Electronics-2018, electronics manufacturing clusters will be promoted by the government and will help the country to grow on hardware front. Once the presence in hardware front like semiconductors, mobile phones becomes strong, the software presence and hardware presence could be integrated to develop whole new range of products for the country and for exports. Once we have the capability in software as well as hardware, an ecosystem of integration will generate, driven by innovation the entire consumer electronics industry will flourish.