Joining peers such as Xiaomi, Vivo and Gionee, Chinese handset maker LeEco will assemble its smartphones in India, investing Rs 50 crore in the facility. Set up in partnership with Compal Electronics, the facility in Greater Noida will have an initial capacity of 60,000 units a month.
This will be ramped up to 2,00,000 by the end of December.
“We have partnered with Compal for the facility and will start with the assembly of Le2. We will invest Rs 35 crore to start with and have earmarked another Rs 12-15 crore for the ramp-up,” LeEco COO Smart Electronics Business Atul Jain said.
He added that the facility, spread over 2,00,000 sq ft, will provide jobs to nearly 200 people. “India will be a global export hub… We are already there in China, Hong Kong and will soon start selling in Russia, Indonesia and the US,” he said.
Le2, which was launched two months ago, has already sold 2,00,000 units in India. “The facility will provide us about 6-8 per cent cost benefit,” he said, adding that LeEco has a similar partnership with Compal for its facility in China.
India attracted investment from 37 mobile manufacturing companies in the last one year that have generated 40,000 direct jobs and 1.25 lakh indirect employment. These include the likes of Xiaomi, Vivo, Gionee, Karbonn, Lava, Micromax, Intex, Jivi, iTel, and MTech.
“Handset manufacturing in India rose 185 per cent in value terms in 2015-16 to Rs 54,000 crore and is expected to touch Rs 94,000 crore this fiscal,” IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Also, according to estimates, FDI in electronic manufacturing has touched an all-time high of Rs 1.23 lakh crore in 2016. LeEco launched its handsets in India in January this year and televisions a few weeks ago. The company has already sold one million units of smartphones in India.
“The partnership with Compal is non-exclusive and both partners can work with other players,” he said. India is one of the largest markets globally for smartphones. According to research firm IDC, smartphone market in India saw a 17.1 per cent sequential rise in shipments to 27.5 million units in April-June, with Chinese vendors like Lenovo, Xioami and Vivo driving the growth.