Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi to set up two more facilities through Foxconn in India

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi yesterday said it was looking to set up two more manufacturing facilities in India through its Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group.

According to Manu Jain, India chief of Xiaomi, the company was in talks with various state governments for finalising the land and other issues for the plants.

In August last year, Xiaomi and Foxconn, started assembling phones locally in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.

"We have not finalised the locations for the facility yet. We are talking to multiple governments to see where we should be setting up (the plants). The factories are owned and operated by Foxconn, but dedicatedly (make production) for us. It is not a joint venture. We have some sort of financial arrangement between us," Jain said, PTI reported.

He added the company might also launch air purifiers in India before the beginning of winter season.

"We think that it is a category which is about to take off. We are trying to bring that this year. The perfect time to launch is before winter, because that is when fog combines with smoke and becomes smog," he said.

Xiaomi, which presently derives 90 per cent of its sales from online channel in India, plans to double its offline presence over the next few months.

Meanwhile, four of the six models that Xiaomi has launched are being made at Foxconn's existing plant in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh as the smartphone maker added multiple assembly lines at the facility to meet the growing demand locally to a great extent.

According to Jain, about 75 per cent of Xiaomi's smartphone units sold in India were being produced in India and newer facilities were needed to meet the growing demand.

Around 100 million handsets were sold in India last year and the number is expected to increase to 123 million in the current financial year.