Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi on Monday launched its first `made-in-India’ phone Redmi 2 Prime, an enhanced version of Redmi 2 with 2GB ram and 16 GB flash memory.
Launching the product at a function here, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said that his Government was providing the ideal ecosystem to make Andhra Pradesh a manufacturing hub for hardware.
Xiaomi has tied up with Foxconn to produce smartphones at Sri City near Tada and announced that it would make phones for sale in India with 100 per cent indigenous production within 14 months. Redmi 2 Prime, assembled mostly with imported parts, is priced at Rs. 6,999.
After kicking off its operations as a startup in 2010 by serial entrepreneur Lei Jun, Xiaomi with the help of Mi fans, has sold 61 million handsets in its first four years. It has also diversified into Mi Note Pro, Mi Note, Mi TV and other products.
Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India,’ campaign, Mr. Naidu said that A.P. was being promoted as a manufacturing hub for hardware. He said that Xiaomi’s entry into A.P. would boost the image of the State as a destination for investment.
Disclosing that the Centre had sanctioned $1 billion with 90 per cent grant for the Digital AP programme, he said that they would provide 10-15 Mbps connections to each household by March 16 to make AP a knowledge hub.
“We will have wi-fi enabled colleges, electronic classrooms and video-conferencing through televisions in each household shortly,” he said. He also exuded confidence that the proposed Visakhapatnam-Chennai and Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridors would bring a lot of investment to AP.
Xiaomi Global vice-president Hugo Barra said that manufacturing smartphones locally was a significant step towards incorporating Xiaomi into the fabric of India. Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India, Amitabh Kant said Xiaomi was a unique example of “invested by China, made in India.”
Xiaomi India head Manu Jain said they had lot of plans for India without specifying their investment roadmap for future.
