Why All Made in India Mobiles Assembled?
How do you know that your mobile is Made in India without understanding the difference between manufactured or assembled mobiles?
Quick facts about Chinese mobiles
- 73% of mobiles sold in India in the Q1 of 2020 were of China origin
- Most Chinese mobiles sold in India are made locally in the country
- There is company making fully Made in India smartphones
With PM Narendra Modi putting more focus on Made in India, the government has floated a scheme to encourage mobile manufacturers to increase their local production by 2025.
Companies are given incentives to start making mobiles in the country but there is a long way to go before the country gets its fully functional mobile manufacturing units.
Made in India mobiles are assembled phones
Mobile manufacturers including Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo of China and Samsung of South Korea make phones according to in “Make in India” program that allows assembling of devices in India.
Since it isn’t possible to get everything needed for making a mobile in the country, the manufacturers import many components from factories situated outside the country like in China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Vietnam. All the important components of a mobile are brought in India and assembled at local factories.
Mobile components brought from outside the country
Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets is a good example of imported mobile components. Since the technology needed for making these chipsets isn’t available in India, they have to be imported from their country of origin.
Lack of natural resources in the country for making mobile components is also a reason for relying on foreign countries. For example, Sony makes mobile camera lenses in Kumamoto in Japan where it gets incredibly pure water needed for making high-quality camera sensors.
Locally made mobile components
Xiaomi makes 65% of its mobile components in India. Realme has 60% components of its phones Made in India and Infinix buys 40-50% components of its from Indian manufacturers. These components include batteries, frames, back panels and printed circuit boards (PCB). PCB makes the bed for laying other components and it accounts for 50% cost of an assembled mobile.
How the government will boost local manufacturing?
The government is incentivizing the manufacturers to start making maximum mobile components in India. Incentives amounting to Rs. 50,000 crore are offered to set shop in India and meet set targets. Industry captains want PCB manufacturing to get a big boost with the incentives. But Samsung had already started looking for options to set a $500 million display manufacturing unit in India even before the incentive was announced.