Boycott China
Boycott China:
Xiaomi more Indian than local handset companies, says India MD HIMANSHI LOHCHAB & ROMIT GUHA ET Bureau | Updated: Jun 24, 2020, 06.44 PM IST Boycott China: Xiaomi more Indian than local handset companies, says India MDBCCL - Non Copyright Manu Jain, Xiaomi's India MD New Delhi:
The border faceoff with China has angered Indian consumers and Xiaomi is facing a backlash on social media, but it hasn’t hurt the smartphone market leader’s sales and is unlikely to hit business in the long term, the company’s India MD said. “If you look at the last few weeks, there has been a backlash against companies from a particular country or a region? Definitely yes…It started happening somewhere in the middle of the lockdown.
He totally understand that people are angry,” Xiaomi’s Manu Jain said in an exclusive interview. Jain added that this got aggravated by the recent ‘geopolitical situation’. “Of course, there’s a backlash on social media… a mob mentality, which we are facing. But will it impact our business? I don’t think so,” he said. He said that when times were tough, there was no need to panic.
The Chinese company has not issued any security advisory and hasn’t beefed up security at its offices, shops or factories. He described people who demonstrated outside the company’s stores as fringe elements. The Xiaomi India MD said his company was more Indian than Indian handset companies. It made all its smartphones and most of its smart TVs here and sourced, on average, 65% of its components locally. It has a completely local leadership, and has generated employment for 50,000 people. “And 100% of the data of Indian users stays in India,” he said. In comparison, Jain said non-Chinese foreign rivals including one ‘US company’ imports all of their phones from China and local Indian brands only relabel and sell in India. Struggling to Meet Pent-up Demand “People are talking about US brands, but forgetting that US branded phones are 100% made in China, every single component, and they’re just importing to India…There were so-called Indian brands...who didn’t even change the home screen; they just changed the logo and called it an Indian phone,” he said. In the aftermath of the June 15 Galwan Valley clash, in which 20 Indian army men were killed by the Chinese, social media platforms have been buzzing with ‘boycott Chinese products’ campaigns with incidents being reported in some parts of the country. For example, slogans were raised outside two Xiaomi stores in the past week while rival Oppo’s factory in Greater Noida saw protests for a couple of hours last Saturday. Jain, 39, described the protesters as fringe elements who want publicity. “There are a few people who are very loud, and will go bash anyone who says positive things about us and it’s a good opportunity for them to be seen on TV,” he said. “Once or twice in the past one week or 10 days, there have been one or two episodes when people have come outside our stores and raised slogans-…we haven’t seen any major episode till now. But this, to us, appears more like Twitter reaction,” said Jain.
The anti-China sentiment prevailing in the country has not hurt Xiaomi’s sales yet. The company sold 10 million units in the January-March period to hold on to a 31.2% share, as per IDC. Vivo and Samsung trailed in the second and third positions. From a sales perspective, Jain expects to reach pre-Covid levels in the third quarter of 2020. He acknowledged that this year would be “softer” in comparison to 2019 mainly due to the two-month lockdown. This will lead to the entire smartphone market de-growing for the first time to 130-135 million units from 154 million in 2019. The company has been struggling to meet pent-up demand post-lockdown, he said, adding that it had been forced to import devices.
“The biggest challenge is the availability of manpower. It’s not only for manufacturing, even at warehouses, delivery boys, after-sales service centres, shop boys…We have been importing during the month of June because manufacturing is still taking time to ramp up and demand is extremely high,” said Jain. “Luckily for us, a lot of our manpower was from local villages and not from other states and since 95% of our workforce in factories are women, we had already built dormitories…as long as the government regulations allow them, we should be able to ramp up hopefully, faster than many other people in the industry.”
Xiaomi has seven manufacturing facilities — the biggest ones at the Sri City special economic zone in Andhra Pradesh and at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. The company has also partnered with contract manufacturers including Flex, Foxconn and Dixon.
PEOPLE'S OPINION READ COMMENTS POST COMMENT SHARE THIS ARTICLE READ MORE ON XIAOMI CHINESE COMPANYSAMSUNGTWITTERMANU KUMAR JAINOPPO ELECTRONICSBOYCOTT CHINESE PRODUCTSGALWAN VALLEY IN THE SPOTLIGHT
PetKonnect & Civis.Vote: How they shook up start-up industry PetKonnect & Civis.Vote: How they shook up start-up industry Related News Demand to pick up in second half of 2020: Xiaomi Demand to pick up in second half of 2020: Xiaomi Xiaomi covers up its store branding with Make in India logo Xiaomi covers up its store branding with Make in India logo Facing 'mob mentality' on social media, but Indian consumers are smart: Xiaomi's Jain Facing 'mob mentality' on social media, but Indian consumers are smart: Xiaomi's Jain Facing 'mob mentality' on social media, but Indian consumers are smart: Xiaomi's Jain Facing 'mob mentality' on social media, but Indian consumers are smart: Xiaomi's Jain Xiaomi Mi 10 5G review: A power-packed performer Xiaomi Mi 10 5G review: A power-packed performer Most Read News PAN-Aadhaar, Tax saving, Form 16, belated ITR filing deadlines extended again PAN-Aadhaar, Tax saving, Form 16, belated ITR filing deadlines extended again Boycott China: Xiaomi more Indian than local handset companies, says India MD Boycott China: Xiaomi more Indian than local handset companies, says India MD Spouses on H4 visas stuck in India following Trump's ban Spouses on H4 visas stuck in India following Trump's ban Reliance may break-up with IPOs of Jio, retail business Reliance may break-up with IPOs of Jio, retail business Trump signs order to suspend H-1B, L-1 visas till December Trump signs order to suspend H-1B, L-1 visas till December More From Our Partners OnePlus announces expansion of OnePlus smart TV portfolio OnePlus announces expansion of OnePlus smart TV portfolio Auto proctored exams solutions are here Auto proctored exams solutions are here Business NewsTechHardware Hot on Web India China border news LIVESensex todayNews LIVE updatesWhat are balanced fundsGold rate todayGlobal marketsBest value funds to invest in 2020Breaking newsSBI share priceYES Bank share priceSGX NiftySensex LiveIRCTC share priceInfosys share priceRupeeAadhaar CardHow to save Income TaxCurrency Converter In Case you missed it India China News LIVEJioITR filing deadline extendedHinduja BrothersIndia China newsLatest news LIVEMSMEUTI AMC IPOChina newsDebt mutual fundsWhat are bluechip fundsFD calculatorSIPIncome tax calculator 20-21Aadhaar cardEPF withdrawal onlineIncome Tax slabsPPF Trending Now Latest news LIVEIndia China LIVE updatesNippon India Mutual FundSmall cap fundsWorld newsSIPIndian AmryBest gilt mutual fundsMutual fundsCovid vaccineHow to calculate income tax onlineLatest NewsEPF PassbookWhat are debt mutual fundsBreaking newsIndex fundsNarendra ModiPAN Aadhaar linking deadline extended More from our network Pune MirrorBangalore MirrorAhmedabad MirrorItsMyAscentEducation TimesBrand CapitalMumbai MirrorTimes NowIndiatime.
Xiaomi more Indian than local handset companies, says India MD HIMANSHI LOHCHAB & ROMIT GUHA ET Bureau | Updated: Jun 24, 2020, 06.44 PM IST Boycott China: Xiaomi more Indian than local handset companies, says India MDBCCL - Non Copyright Manu Jain, Xiaomi's India MD New Delhi:
The border faceoff with China has angered Indian consumers and Xiaomi is facing a backlash on social media, but it hasn’t hurt the smartphone market leader’s sales and is unlikely to hit business in the long term, the company’s India MD said. “If you look at the last few weeks, there has been a backlash against companies from a particular country or a region? Definitely yes…It started happening somewhere in the middle of the lockdown.
He totally understand that people are angry,” Xiaomi’s Manu Jain said in an exclusive interview. Jain added that this got aggravated by the recent ‘geopolitical situation’. “Of course, there’s a backlash on social media… a mob mentality, which we are facing. But will it impact our business? I don’t think so,” he said. He said that when times were tough, there was no need to panic.
The Chinese company has not issued any security advisory and hasn’t beefed up security at its offices, shops or factories. He described people who demonstrated outside the company’s stores as fringe elements. The Xiaomi India MD said his company was more Indian than Indian handset companies. It made all its smartphones and most of its smart TVs here and sourced, on average, 65% of its components locally. It has a completely local leadership, and has generated employment for 50,000 people. “And 100% of the data of Indian users stays in India,” he said. In comparison, Jain said non-Chinese foreign rivals including one ‘US company’ imports all of their phones from China and local Indian brands only relabel and sell in India. Struggling to Meet Pent-up Demand “People are talking about US brands, but forgetting that US branded phones are 100% made in China, every single component, and they’re just importing to India…There were so-called Indian brands...who didn’t even change the home screen; they just changed the logo and called it an Indian phone,” he said. In the aftermath of the June 15 Galwan Valley clash, in which 20 Indian army men were killed by the Chinese, social media platforms have been buzzing with ‘boycott Chinese products’ campaigns with incidents being reported in some parts of the country. For example, slogans were raised outside two Xiaomi stores in the past week while rival Oppo’s factory in Greater Noida saw protests for a couple of hours last Saturday. Jain, 39, described the protesters as fringe elements who want publicity. “There are a few people who are very loud, and will go bash anyone who says positive things about us and it’s a good opportunity for them to be seen on TV,” he said. “Once or twice in the past one week or 10 days, there have been one or two episodes when people have come outside our stores and raised slogans-…we haven’t seen any major episode till now. But this, to us, appears more like Twitter reaction,” said Jain.
The anti-China sentiment prevailing in the country has not hurt Xiaomi’s sales yet. The company sold 10 million units in the January-March period to hold on to a 31.2% share, as per IDC. Vivo and Samsung trailed in the second and third positions. From a sales perspective, Jain expects to reach pre-Covid levels in the third quarter of 2020. He acknowledged that this year would be “softer” in comparison to 2019 mainly due to the two-month lockdown. This will lead to the entire smartphone market de-growing for the first time to 130-135 million units from 154 million in 2019. The company has been struggling to meet pent-up demand post-lockdown, he said, adding that it had been forced to import devices.
“The biggest challenge is the availability of manpower. It’s not only for manufacturing, even at warehouses, delivery boys, after-sales service centres, shop boys…We have been importing during the month of June because manufacturing is still taking time to ramp up and demand is extremely high,” said Jain. “Luckily for us, a lot of our manpower was from local villages and not from other states and since 95% of our workforce in factories are women, we had already built dormitories…as long as the government regulations allow them, we should be able to ramp up hopefully, faster than many other people in the industry.”
Xiaomi has seven manufacturing facilities — the biggest ones at the Sri City special economic zone in Andhra Pradesh and at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. The company has also partnered with contract manufacturers including Flex, Foxconn and Dixon.
PEOPLE'S OPINION READ COMMENTS POST COMMENT SHARE THIS ARTICLE READ MORE ON XIAOMI CHINESE COMPANYSAMSUNGTWITTERMANU KUMAR JAINOPPO ELECTRONICSBOYCOTT CHINESE PRODUCTSGALWAN VALLEY IN THE SPOTLIGHT
PetKonnect & Civis.Vote: How they shook up start-up industry PetKonnect & Civis.Vote: How they shook up start-up industry Related News Demand to pick up in second half of 2020: Xiaomi Demand to pick up in second half of 2020: Xiaomi Xiaomi covers up its store branding with Make in India logo Xiaomi covers up its store branding with Make in India logo Facing 'mob mentality' on social media, but Indian consumers are smart: Xiaomi's Jain Facing 'mob mentality' on social media, but Indian consumers are smart: Xiaomi's Jain Facing 'mob mentality' on social media, but Indian consumers are smart: Xiaomi's Jain Facing 'mob mentality' on social media, but Indian consumers are smart: Xiaomi's Jain Xiaomi Mi 10 5G review: A power-packed performer Xiaomi Mi 10 5G review: A power-packed performer Most Read News PAN-Aadhaar, Tax saving, Form 16, belated ITR filing deadlines extended again PAN-Aadhaar, Tax saving, Form 16, belated ITR filing deadlines extended again Boycott China: Xiaomi more Indian than local handset companies, says India MD Boycott China: Xiaomi more Indian than local handset companies, says India MD Spouses on H4 visas stuck in India following Trump's ban Spouses on H4 visas stuck in India following Trump's ban Reliance may break-up with IPOs of Jio, retail business Reliance may break-up with IPOs of Jio, retail business Trump signs order to suspend H-1B, L-1 visas till December Trump signs order to suspend H-1B, L-1 visas till December More From Our Partners OnePlus announces expansion of OnePlus smart TV portfolio OnePlus announces expansion of OnePlus smart TV portfolio Auto proctored exams solutions are here Auto proctored exams solutions are here Business NewsTechHardware Hot on Web India China border news LIVESensex todayNews LIVE updatesWhat are balanced fundsGold rate todayGlobal marketsBest value funds to invest in 2020Breaking newsSBI share priceYES Bank share priceSGX NiftySensex LiveIRCTC share priceInfosys share priceRupeeAadhaar CardHow to save Income TaxCurrency Converter In Case you missed it India China News LIVEJioITR filing deadline extendedHinduja BrothersIndia China newsLatest news LIVEMSMEUTI AMC IPOChina newsDebt mutual fundsWhat are bluechip fundsFD calculatorSIPIncome tax calculator 20-21Aadhaar cardEPF withdrawal onlineIncome Tax slabsPPF Trending Now Latest news LIVEIndia China LIVE updatesNippon India Mutual FundSmall cap fundsWorld newsSIPIndian AmryBest gilt mutual fundsMutual fundsCovid vaccineHow to calculate income tax onlineLatest NewsEPF PassbookWhat are debt mutual fundsBreaking newsIndex fundsNarendra ModiPAN Aadhaar linking deadline extended More from our network Pune MirrorBangalore MirrorAhmedabad MirrorItsMyAscentEducation TimesBrand CapitalMumbai MirrorTimes NowIndiatime.
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