#BoycottChineseGoods | Chinese smartphone brands get vocal about being local in India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for Atmanirbhar Bharat and the recent tussle at the India-China border has sparked a significant rise in anti-China sentiments across the country. This had pushed top Chinese smartphone players to reiterate their commitment to the Indian market.

In a recent QnA video, Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth said Realme is a global multinational company (MNC) which started from India. Sheth also stated that the Indian market contributed nearly 50 percent to the company’s sales globally. Realme considers India to be a very important market and therefore, has launched many India-first products like the AIoT devices, a 5G smartphone, and a 64MP smartphone camera. 

“We understand the Indian users much better. More than 60 percent of our components are sourced from local suppliers,” Sheth added. The company is looking to be self-reliant in the future and is in line with all the government of India initiatives. Sheth reiterated that all Realme smartphones are manufactured under the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

Sheth further went ahead and said Realme is an Indian startup that is now a global MNC. This may be misleading as it is a known fact that Realme was launched as an offshoot brand to Oppo, which is owned by China’s BBK group. Other Chinese smartphone companies like Vivo and OnePlus are also owned by the BBK Group.

Xiaomi too has been vocal about its commitment to India. The company recently stated that 99 percent of its smartphones are manufactured in India and it intends to expand its online and offline presence, thus creating more jobs for Indians. Xiaomi India CEO Manu Kumar Jain had previously said more than 50,000 employees were associated directly or indirectly with the brand.

India-China Border News LIVE

Poco, which was once a Xiaomi sub-brand, has also been posting about its presence in the country and how it “took ahead the #MakeInIndia initiative by making products and services that are crafted for India.”

OnePlus recently announced that it will make smart TVs in India. Vivo, which is India’s number two smartphone brand, starting stamping the ‘Make in India’ stamp on the retail boxes of its smartphone to promote the initiative.

These moves by Chinese brands seem to be working, as a report by The Economic Times, citing several senior executives associated with these brands, stated that their sales have no impact despite the ongoing border tension.

Read our complete coverage on the India-China border tension.