India has turned out to be a major market for smartphone manufacturers as the demand for newer devices grows rapidly. One of the companies to take advantage of this demand is Xiaomi, which has been pumping out smartphones for almost every price segment including high-end flagship devices and budget-friendly devices. If the company has not been stressing enough the importance of the Indian market for it, Xiaomi has made an investment of ₹3,500 crore. According to the mandatory filing with the Indian government authorities, this amount has been brought in through the Chinese major’s Singapore firm Xiaomi Singapore Pte. Ltd., which holds almost 100% of the Indian company’s equity. There were two tranches, compromising of a ₹2,500 crore and ₹1,500 crore. The lower amount came in first in January and the ₹2000 crore tranche in March.
Xiaomi has not made an official announcement regarding this and neither has responded to queries on the subject. Therefore, there is no confirmation as to where the company might invest this fund. Some sources close to the topic have said that the company plans to push some of its other products like water purifiers, washing machines, laptops, and refrigerators, which it sells in its home market, but has not made much headway here. Xiaomi will open its offline Mi stores in order to showcase such devices and market them properly. With the influx of the funds, Xiaomi might expand these offline stores in more cities across the country as well.
Xiaomi is already the number one brand in India in terms of the number of mobile phones sold though the South Korean major Samsung still clocks a much higher revenue; almost 50% higher than Xiaomi. Xiaomi has, however, dethroned Samsung from the number one spot in terms of smartphones sold.
According to market observers, Xiaomi is able to sell its devices through e-commerce websites like Flipkart and Amazon, where the company does not have to spend much on marketing. Now that the company has reached the center stage, the offline model will definitely demand ad spends etc.
Interestingly, Xiaomi has not put up a manufacturing unit in India and only relies on contract manufacturers to make and supply its products.
Television is another sector where Xiaomi has managed to cement its position as a reliable brand that offers high-end TVs at a relatively lower price. It would want to replicate these successes in other products in the white goods category as well.
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