Chinese smartphone makers may exit India amid a recent government crackdown on companies such as Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo. Chinese phone makers are looking at Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nigeria as potential replacements for India to set up their manufacturing bases. Oppo already has plans to set up a manufacturing plant for $20 million in Egypt, a development the article describes as a “pacesetter”. A Chinese executive based in India told that the companies would evaluate bilateral ties, market potential, preferential policies and labour costs before setting up manufacturing plants elsewhere. “The management in Chinese smartphone brands in India felt a palpable sense of being squeezed by the Indian government’s crackdown and its actions to improve domestic companies’ capability to make sophisticated electronics such as smartphones,” the executive added.
Oppo’s plant in Egypt is expected to generate over 900 jobs in the next few years. The Indian government recently opened tax evasion investigations against three Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo. India also banned 300 Chinese apps after the armies of India and China exchanged blows during the Galwan showdown, which left 20 Indian and at least 4 Chinese soldiers dead.
Tencent’s WeChat and ByteDance’s TikTok are among some more popular apps banned by India in the aftermath of Galwan skirmish. India is also bolstering its chip manufacturing capabilities with industry incentives. Vedanta and Apple contract manufacturer Foxconn recently signed an agreement to build a fab plant in Gujarat with an entailed investment of Rs 1.54 lakh crore. Tata Group is reportedly in talks with Taiwanese Wistron to jointly manufacture iPhones.
