Anti-China sentiment only on social media, unlikely to impact India business: Xiaomi India CEO Manu Jain

The cross border tussle at the LAC in Ladakh coupled with the coronavirus pandemic has created a stir of anti-China sentiment among Indians calling to boycott Chinese smartphones and other products. However, Xiaomi India chief Manu Kumar Jain believes the sentiment is only limited to social media and is unlikely to affect the company’s business in India.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Jain stated that Xiaomi is more Indian than any other smartphone brand. Over the past six years, Jain states that the company has brought its R&D, manufacturing and production team in India, generating employment for more than 50,000 locals.

Jain further stated that all Xiaomi smartphones and most of the brand’s other products are made in India. Moreover, 65 percent of the components required for these products are also sourced locally. “There are companies whose phones are 100 percent made in China. There are so-called Indian companies who buy phones from China and rebrand them and sell in India. We are actually more Indian than any of them,” Jain said.

India’s number one smartphone brand’s CEO also hopes that the India-China border face-off will not hamper the company’s business here in India. “I understand that there is a sentiment on social media but in reality, I don’t think consumers will take this into account,” Jain explained, reiterating PM Modi’s call for local for vocal. He further stated that Xiaomi is one of the highest tax-paying smartphone companies that also generates massive employments for Indians.

Jain further believes that the mass-sentiment does not prevail among everyone as the company’s recently-launched products saw record sales. “If this was a concern, we would not have sold over 1 lakh Redmi Earbuds. The best-selling brands achieve this in a quarter and we were able to meet that number in just a week,” Jain said.