Xiaomi covers stores with 'Made In India' banners as calls for 'Boycott Chinese products' grow stronger

Amid fears over backlash in India and calls from various quarters for boycotting of Chinese products, Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi has covered its Mi-Store showroom with 'Made In India' banners. The development comes days after its India unit Managing Director Manu Kumar Jain said Xiaomi was more Indian than many of India's handset companies. The smartphone maker is among several Chinese companies facing backlash after the recent India-China border standoff.

Xiaomi brand name outside Mi-stores has been replaced by 'Made in India' banners in Kolkata. It's written in the company's brand colour, saffron, on a white background. Kumar on Thursday tweeted that he was "super proud to share that majority of our TVs are #MadeInIndia! We employ thousands of team members across our India factories".

Jain had recently said that "mob mentality" will not impact the company's business in India. On average, the company sources 65 per cent of the components for its smartphones and TVs locally, Jain had said. The company has provided employment to 50,000 Indian employees, he said, adding that 100 per cent of the data of Indian users stay in the country.

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The India smartphone market is dominated by Chinese players. The company, founded by Chinese billionaire Lei Jun along with six others in 2010, claims to be India's number one smartphone brand. As per Counterpoint, Xiaomi has the largest market share of 30 per cent in India, followed by Vivo and Samsung with 17 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively.

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Despite the 'Boycott China' chorus, there seems to be little impact on the sale of Chinese smartphones though. Jain's Wednesday tweet says the company's new smartphone Redmi Note 9 ProMax was out of stock in less than "50 seconds". "Thank you all for your love and support. #NoMiWithouYou. All of us are working very hard to bring more quantity next week," he added.

India's apex trade body CAIT has also released a list of over 500 Chinese products to be boycotted, which include FMCG products, consumer durables, toys, furnishing fabrics, textiles, builder hardware, footwear, apparel, kitchen items, among others.

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