Xiaomi plans to start a manufacturing plant in India

Xiaomi, a name unheard of in India, quickly rose to be one of the most proffered smartphone brand in the country. In a country where high-end smartphones on super-cheap budgets are in demand, Xiaomi has managed to feed the market and give a tough competition to the rivals.

According to a report in the International Business Times, Xiaomi had underestimated their sales in India when they launched in July. They estimated a maximum of 10,000 handsets to be sold in a week. However, now that they are selling almost 100,000 handsets in a week, they are seriously thinking of putting up a manufacturing and Research and Development center in India to meet the huge demands.

Also read: Xiaomi Mi 4 handset could be priced less than Rs 18,000

Manu Jain, Head of operations for Xiaomi in India, told the IBT that “The center would focus on building India-specific features and products.”

He also mentioned that they are trying to build a core team for India. With the recent ex-Googler now onboard, Xiaomi stands with a team of just 14 employees, but is expecting to grow by around 10-15 more.

Manu also indicated that the company, apart from manufacturing in India, is planning on retailing on their own website. This could mean that the exclusive partnership with Flipkart could sizzle out in a few months. However, the team is presently calculating and debating whether they should take on the whole load on themselves or not and whether there will be proper return of their investments.

Xiaomi is presently gearing up to launch the Redmi Note in India next month. The Redmi Note is a larger handset (phablet) with an octa core processor and will be priced below Rs 10,000.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi is under the scanner by the Indian Air Force as the IAF’s Intelligence Unit has sent out a medium alert about the Chinese smartphones, from Xiaomi, are spying on the user’s information and sending it back to the Chinese servers in Beijing. Read more about it.

Also read: Indian Air Force to ban Xiaomi smartphones