China’s Huawei gets the green-light to manufacture handsets in India

More and more reports are appearing about Huawei‘s alleged partnership with Google to build one of the next Nexus smartphones, and how its Honor 7 handset reached 9 million pre-orders in just one week. On a less sexy note though, the company is also busy expanding its base of operations in India. The Chinese handset maker applied for a manufacturing license in India 19 months ago, and now we have news that despite national security concerns, security clearance has been awarded to Huawei.

While Huawei already had R&D operations as well as a manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, under the terms of the agreement, Huawei had to export everything produced there. Thanks to receiving the security clearance though, Huawei will now be able to sell its Indian-manufactured handsets in India.

Allan Wang, the president of Huawei’s consumer business group in India, told Reuters that “We (Huawei) aim to become a top 3 brand in India within 3 years.”

Huawei isn’t the only Chinese company looking to invest in India; Foxconn, the company that assembles Apple’s iPhone, also plans on opening 10-12 facilities that will provide around 1 million jobs.

India has around 975 million mobile phone subscriptions, of which around 150 million subscribers are using internet-friendly smartphones. That’s a number that is set to grow by 26% annually over the next 4 years according to a recent HSBC report. It’s easy to see why any company, whether it’s Chinese or not, would want a piece of that pie.

It seems that besides having a fast-growing mobile market, India will soon have a booming market in manufacturing handsets as well.

Source: Reuters
Via: Android Central

Come comment on this article: China’s Huawei gets the green-light to manufacture handsets in India