Bengaluru: Growing anti-China sentiment in India has not had any tangible impact on Chinese smartphone maker, Xiaomi, the company’s India head said Thursday. This comes after the top smartphone maker put up ‘Made in India’ banners to allay rising Anti-China sentiments.
In the last six years, Xiaomi India built a strong local culture and company, managing director Manu Kumar Jain told media sources.
“Our product team, R&D teams are here in India. As we have mentioned, all (of ) our phones, majority of our TVs are made in India, large number of components are locally sourced … entire leadership team is in India,” Jain said.
“Till now, we are not seeing any major impact on our business, with respect to sales or demand,” he added.
Xiaomi is India’s top smartphone maker and owns about 30% of the market currently, according to data from Counterpoint Research. In fact, apart from Samsung, the rest of the top five phone makers in the Indian market are all Chinese firms.
Relations between New Delhi and Beijing deteriorated in recent weeks due to a border clash high in the Himalayas that left 20 Indian soldiers dead. Diplomatic efforts are being made to deescalate the situation between the two neighborhood giants. But public sentiment in India toward Chinese brands and products have soured, with rising calls emerging for a complete boycott.
For its part, Xiaomi has been covering its branding outside retail stores with a “Made in India” logo, fearing that people may damage the shops due to anti-China sentiments, local media reported. It also reportedly asked its shop floor promoters to not wear the brand’s uniform.
Jain added that the company has seen some backlash on social media, but that has not affected sales or demand.
India is also reportedly planning higher import duties and trade barriers on around 300 products from China and elsewhere, according to Reuters, which cited two government officials.
The plan had reportedly been under review since at least April, before the border clash occurred. It is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to make India Atmanirbhar(self-reliant) and to promote local products, reports said.
Potentially higher tariffs are not a “major concern” for Xiaomi as more than 99% of its phones sold in India are made in India, according to Jain.
“And, not just phones — 65% of these components are locally sourced or locally manufactured. So, if you look at the amount of components we buy from outside, it’s actually very low,” he said, adding, “Even if there is any additional import duty, the impact on our business is going to be negligible.”
PNN