PM Modi has in recent years promoted India as a smartphone manufacturing hub, prompting companies such as Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung Electronics and Vivo to expand assembly of phones.
Xiaomi India President Muralikrishnan B had told Reuters earlier that the company will open more stores & boost local procurement of mobile phone parts to reduce costs.
The push comes as the manufacturer of the Redmi brand of smartphones recently lost out to South Korean rival Samsung as India's top smartphones company.
Xiaomi's assets in India were frozen last year by the ED which alleged the company had made illegal remittances to foreign entities by passing them off as royalty payments.
Xiaomi's products have lost their Midas touch. They seem like remixed iterations of older products and barely move the needle in terms of breaking new ground.
Oppo claims that the Find N2 Flip is the most powerful flip-style folding screen smartphone in the world. Even OnePlus, much-loved brand in India, is set to launch one.
With the Redmi Note 12 series, Xiaomi wants to catch up with a phone that can become the new gold standard for whatever one wants for less than Rs 30,000.
Driving an electric vehicle for months, the Hyundai IONIQ5, BMW iX and now the Kia Carens Clavis electric, has convinced me of the viability of EVs for city and mid-range commutes.
With the US-India trade deal yet to get done, rupee depreciation may be helping to mitigate India’s loss of competitiveness. The other problem is extreme despondence among overseas equity investors.
Of the total package, $649 million will be utilised for additional hardware, software, and support services, and the remaining for Major Defence Equipment (MDE).
Don’t blame misfortune. This is colossal incompetence and insensitivity. So bad, heads would have rolled even in the old PSU-era Indian Airlines and Air India.
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