Chinese smartphone maker Vivo's new plant in Greater Noida to create over 5,000 jobs

Chinese smartphone maker Vivo Mobile India's new plant in Greater Noida will provide jobs to over 5,000 people in India, the company has claimed. In its second phase of investment under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make in India initiative, Vivo will pump in Rs 4,000 crore into this new facility. This will make its new manufacturing base in Noida as big as its other two bases in China. As part of the plan, the company will initially invest Rs 800 crore in the facility, excluding the land cost. The plant is expected to be functional by December 2019.

Vivo's existing mobile phone facility in Greater Noida is spanned in 50 acres, which already employs over 5,000 people. The company had invested just Rs 300 crore into this facility, which has produced most mobile components locally. Vivo was in talks with the UP government to buy additional land to increase capacity for over a year.

Besides, the new plant will give a boost to Vivo India's plan to increase exports as demand from its operations in 16 countries rises. "The plant will support our India demand... it will cater to Vivo's expansion through exports as we are already present in 16 countries," Nipun Marya, Vivo India Director of Brand Strategy, told the Economic Times.

The company's existing plant in Greater Noida has reached its full capacity. With a drastic surge in its popularity, the company now wants to increase its production capacity to 25 million units per annum in addition to enhancing its component manufacturing.

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As per Registrar of Companies filings for FY18, among the Chinese companies operational in India, the most impressive growth was posted by Vivo India, up 77.6% year-on-year to Rs 11,179.3 crore. Apart from China and India, Vivo also has mobile phone plant in Indonesia.

The Chinese mobile companies dominate the Indian smartphone market, which is worth over Rs 1.5 lakh crore. As per a recent report, Indian consumers doubled their spending (year-on-year) on the top four Chinese brands, including Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Honor, to over Rs 50,000 crore in FY18.

Thanks to the Make in India policies, all these companies are all investing in local manufacturing, thereby giving a fillip to employment opportunities in India. These four brands along with a few other Chinese brands like Lenovo-Motorola, One-Plus and Infinix, make up more than 50 per cent of the total Indian smartphone market by sales.

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