Xiaomi Stores Erect Made In India Banners: Claims Boycott China Trends Won't Hit Business

The recently flared up geopolitical tensions between India and China has brought the focus back on the Chinese tech companies operating in the country, particularly the very popular smartphone brands. It is perhaps understandable that the likes of Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Realme and OnePlus are operating with a sense of trepidation. If reports are to be believed, Xiaomi is hiding the Mi branding at some of its physical stores with the “Make in India” banners. This comes after the All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) sent a letter to the Chinese phone makers, including Xiaomi, suggesting that toning down the branding or hiding it in the face of potential violence by miscreants. News18 has reached out to Xiaomi India for a comment.

“Damage to these boards should not be the retailer’s liability as the circumstances are not in our hands or in our control,” says the letter written by the AIMRA, as reported by The Economic Times. There is the fear that anti-China protests could turn violent, and the physical stores as well as employees working at these stores would be targeted. Xiaomi insists that these sentiments will not impact Xiaomi’s India businesses. “I don’t think this will impact our business in a major way,” Manu Kumar Jain, Global VP at Xiaomi and MD at Xiaomi India, told CNBCTV18. Jain has some robust facts to share. Xiaomi’s research and development center is in India, the phone manufacturing happens in India and Xiaomi has more than 50,000 people working through its ecosystem in the country.

Xiaomi entered India in July 2014 with the then very popular Mi 3 smartphone. The company pushed for local production and a year later, started producing phones as part of the Make In India initiative, at Taiwanese company Foxconn’s plant in Andhra Pradesh. In November last year, the company said that 99% of all phones they sell in India, are made in India. “About 99 per cent of the phones sold in India are made in the country. We make three phones per second,” Muralikrishnan B, Chief Operating Officer, Xiaomi India, had said in an official statement at the time. Xiaomi is also exporting phones made in India, to countries including Nepal and Bangladesh.

At this time, Xiaomi has 7 smartphone manufacturing plants in India, producing the Mi and the Redmi range of smartphones. Combined, they roll out 3 phones per second. Xiaomi says that more than 30,000 people are employed in the factories across India. Xiaomi has a strong ecosystem play, and Mi TVs as well as power banks are a part of that—both of these products are also manufactured in India.

Could it just be that this admittedly noisy anti-China sentiment is emerging from a limited demographic? Numbers tell their own tale. Xiaomi says that just yesterday, June 24, they sold out the entire stock of the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, which went on sale at noon, in 50 seconds. Earlier this week, the OnePlus put up the OnePlus 8 Pro for sale and it also sold out the entire stock in minutes.

According to data by Counterpoint Research, the Chinese smartphone makers account for a combined 81% share of the Indian smartphone market.