These days everyone has been jumping onto the Make in India bandwagon, and why not, it seems just the right time to do so. Yesterday, Gionee announced its first ‘Made in India’ smartphone in Vizag – the F series, F10. The smartphone was launched as the first Gionee device assembled by Foxconn in SriCity.
Yes, we are still assembling the device and don’t posses the facilities to start complete manufacturing. “This is the starting point, you can’t accelerate a car directly unless you start it,” said Arvind Vohra, Gionee India head.
He told us how we would be in a better position to manufacture in the next 4 – 5 years. “Within 4-5 years we will be there at least with the way I see the component players and suppliers interacting. It’s not just about us, but everyone coming together to work at it. Initially, we may see lesser complicated suppliers and then the more complicated vendors will come. It’s just a matter of time,” he explained.
It was just recently that another Chinese vendor, Xiaomi, announced its Made in India plans. We also saw OnePlus announce that it would Make in India on the same day. “The government has given the kind of push that has helped the sudden boom of Make in India,” Vohra said.
William Lu, President, Gionee who believes India is one of the most powerful market for phones along with China, further explained, “For really making in India, we will go through stages. First is SKD and then we need some local purchasing but that would need more suppliers to come to India who can create a manufacturing hub, then it will go to the component stage. If you really want the mobile technology to grow here then one should develop in India.”
The company’s F103 that is now under production as the first Made in India smartphone was launched last month. Gionee has ensured it has a sub-10k player when it comes to the Make in India initiative. Starting with the F series, the company will then start assembling the S series in India. In fact, Vohra tells us that by March 2016, the entire Gionee portfolio will be ‘Made in India’.
Lu further went on to explain why they choose the F103 over other models as the first device to be made here. “It is a very stylish budget device priced just below Rs 10,000. We’ve received great response for this model and that’s why we selected this model. We will continue to offer good design and good quality devices for India. The production of the F series, F 103 has started and we will then move to the S series,” Lu said.
The number of companies ready to align with the government’s Made in India initiative has been growing. Xiaomi has also teamed up Foxconn to assemble phones at SriCity in Andhra Pradesh. Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh also said how the state has the potential to become a hardware manufacturing hub, which help boost the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
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