Gionee to set up Rs 500-crore manufacturing unit in north India

The Chinese company, which assembles its smartphones in India through third-party players like Foxconn and Dixon, expects the plant to be operational in about 2 years. “We are in process of getting land in northern India. The 50-acre unit have an annual capacity of 30 million units. It should be operational in about two years,” Gionee India MD and CEO Arvind Vohra said.

He declined however to share details about the location of the plant. “It will be an end-to-end manufacturing unit. It will help us cater to demand in India as well as nearby markets and African region... We will invest about Rs 500 crore on the plant,” Vohra said. 

About 60 per cent of Gionee India’s devices sold in the country are manufactured locally at facilities run by Foxconn (Tamil Nadu) and Dixon (Noida). According to research firm IDC, smartphone shipments in India grew 17.1 per cent sequentially to 27.5 million units in April-June quarter, with Chinese vendors like Lenovo, Xioami, Gionee and Vivo driving the growth. The shipments have revived after two successive quarters of decline. Samsung led with 25.1 per cent market share followed by Micromax (12.9 pc), Lenovo Group (7.7 pc), Intex (7.1 pc) and Reliance Jio (6.8 pc).

Vohra said Gionee India has crossed half million units sales per month and by year-end, he expects the number to go up to one million. Vohra said the company has witnessed 100 per cent growth last year and expects a “robust growth” this year too.