Chinese Smartphone Companies in India & Their Manufacturing Facilities
- Xiaomi – The largest Chinese Mobile Brand in India. It is headquartered in China and has factories in India (TN, Andhra Pradesh, UP).
- Oppo, Realme, and Oneplus – All are Chinese brands. BBQ electronics is the parent company, headquartered in China. They have a manufacturing facility in Noida (Uttar Pradesh).
- OnePlus – Manufactures phones at the Oppo facility in Noida.
- Vivo, iQOO – are other major Chinese brands in India. BBQ electronics is the parent company. The company has a manufacturing facility in Noia (UP).
- Huawei – is also from China and has a manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu (Flex Ltd.)
- Lenovo – A Chinese Company that makes phones and laptops.
- Motorola – It was earlier a U.S. company, but now it is owned By Lenovo. It makes phones in Tamil Nadu (Flex Ltd).
- Tecno – It is a subsidiary of Transsion’s Holding – A Chinese Company.
- Infinix – It is also a subsidiary of Transsion’s Holding – a Chinese Company.
Non-Chinese Mobile Companies in India
- Samsung is from South Korea, they have a manufacturing plant in Noida.
- Apple is from the U.S and has a manufacturing plant in TN and Karnataka.
- Google is from the U.S.
- Sony is from Japan.
- HTC and Asus are from Taiwan, Asus has a manufacturing plant in AP.
- Nokia was earlier a Finnish mobile brand, but now it is bought by HMD global (another Finnish company). However, the manufacturing of Nokia phones is done by Foxconn – a Taiwanese company in Tamil Nadu.
Foxconn makes mobiles for many companies like Apple, Nokia, Xiaomi. It has manufacturing plants in China, India, Brazil, and other countries.
Next, let’s check out the list of Indian Mobile Companies that are offering made in India mobiles.
Top 12 Indian Mobile Companies Details and List (2020)
1. MICROMAX
Micromax Informatics is the largest Indian mobile manufacturer, headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. It was founded by Rahul Sharma in 2000.
The company makes mobiles, AC, LED TVs, Laptops, power banks, and Tablets. It has a manufacturing plant in Uttarakhand, has revenue of 2368 Crore, and employs 20,000 people.
2. INTEX TECHNOLOGIES
The company was started in 1996 by Narendra Bansal and is the second-largest mobile company. It is headquartered in New Delhi and like Micromax has a huge range of products – Smartphones, LED TVs, Speakers, Tablets, Feature Phones, ACs, UPS, Coolers, etc.
The company has a revenue of Rs. 6200 Crores and has 10,000+ employees.
3. LAVA
Lava International is the third-largest Indian mobile company and is headquartered in Noida, Uttarpradesh. The company was founded by Hari Om Rai and others in 2009 and make feature phones, smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
The company has a manufacturing plant in Uttar Pradesh and has 10,000+ employees and 542 Crore revenue.
4. KARBONN MOBILE
The company was started by Sudhir Hasija & Pardeep Jain in 2009 and is headquartered in New Delhi.
The company makes mobiles, tablets, feature phones, and Tablets. They have a revenue of Rs. 650 Crores and employees 10000+ persons.
5. IBALL MOBILES
The company was started in 2001 by Anil Parasrampuria and is headquartered in India’s financial hub Mumbai, Maharashtra.
The company imports computer accessories, smartphones, tablets, routers, and speakers. They employ more than 2000 people and has a turnover of Rs. 2000 crores.
6. RELIANCE JIO LYF MOBILES
Reliance LyF Mobiles is a subsidiary company of the largest Indian Telecom company JIO. It makes 4G Volte Smartphones (Jio Phone) and also other Android mobiles, WIFI dongles. The company was founded by Mr. Mukesh Ambani, in 2015 and is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
7. SPICE MOBILES
It is part of Spice Digital Ltd which was founded by Mr. Bhupendra Kumar Modi in the year 2000. Spice Digital has many businesses including – Value Added Services, Spice Telecom, and Spice Mobiles.
The company launched several phones under Spice Stellar brand name. The company is headquartered in Noida and has 500+ employees.
8. SWIPE MOBILES
It is an Indian mobile company that launched its first tablet in 2012. Founded by Mr. Shripal Gandhi it has base operations in India but is headquartered in Singapore and has 500 employees.
9. CELKON
It was a mobile company headed by Y Guru and was based out of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. The company used to sell mobiles, PC and tablets which were assembled in Medchal Hyderabad.
The company had a revenue of Rs. 925 crore but now the website of the company no longer exists and they don’t sell products online.
10. SMARTRON
It is an Indian mobile company that was launched in 2017 by Mr. Mahesh Lingareddy along with the famous cricketer Mr. Sachin Tendulkar. The company makes several products – smartphones, bikes, tablets, and laptops.
11. YU TELEVENTURES
It was also started by Rahul Sharma of Micromax in the year 2014 as a joint venture with Cyanogen Os. The company launched phones under the Yu brand name but failed to impress buyers due to poor quality and after-sales service.
The company has launched several products like a health band, mini-Ecg device, power banks, etc.
12. XOLO
It is a mobile brand of Lava International and was launched in 2012. The brand makes laptops, Smartphones, and Tablets and also created a Hive UI for Xolo smartphones.
So, these are some of the top Indian phone brands that are offering phones made in India.
*Note – It is not necessary that Indian mobile companies are making phones in India. They also import parts/phones from China and other countries. Please read the full article to know more.
13. IKALL
iKall claims to be an Indian company and on its official website says that the company was started back in 1949. The official website says that the company was founded in India but doesn’t reveal who is the founder.
The company says they have 2000+ distributors and also sell mobiles, tablets, and gadgets online on Amazon and other e-commerce websites. It is hard to tell if the phones are imported from China or Assembled in India.
SMARTPHONE MARKET SHARE Q1 2020
Xiaomi is the biggest mobile company in India with (30%) share, followed by Samsung (16%), Vivo (17%), Oppo (12%), Realme (14%), Oppo (12%), others (11%). More than 73% share is of Chinese brands.
In 2014, Micromax was the number 2 brand in India, with an 18% market share and now it has less than 1%. Nearly 73% of the smartphones sold in India are from Chinese companies.
Related – Top 10 Made in India Smartphones Starting from Rs. 5000
Are Indian Mobile Companies (Micromax, Lava, Xolo) Making Phones in India?
Before 2016
Firstly, let’s understand how the Indian brands were manufacturing the phones before Xiaomi, and other Chinese brands came. A couple of years back, Micromax launched a smartphone called Micromax Dual 5 in India, a copy of Qiku 360 Q5, a Chinese phone. Another phone, Yu Yureka black, was a copy of Wiko U Feel Prime (another Chinese mobile).
IN LIGHT OF THE ABOVE INFORMATION: ARE MICROMAX, OR INTEX, LAVA, OR KARBONN MANUFACTURING MOBILES IN INDIA?
No, not really. They either assembled phones in India by importing most parts. Or they straightaway buy phones in bulk from China, rebrand them with their logo, and sell in India at a higher rate.
The design is Chinese, the material is Chinese, but the brand name is Indian.
Further, there are lots of ODMs in China (Original designer and Manufacturing companies). These make smartphones at their factories and give them to brands to relabel and sell.
Previously, Chinese ODM that used to make phones for Micromax in the past launched its brand in India. The brand is called Topwise, and they had a sub-brand Comio in India to sell phones.
A couple of years back, for Micromax and other Indian brands, the business strategy was simple. Buy Chinese phones in bulk at a low price, sell them in India, and keep the margin.
Consequently, whether Indian companies import complete handsets or parts, China gets the monetary benefit. Micromax and other Indian companies never invested much in software development or providing higher quality products with adequate after-sales service.
The consumer experience was pathetic. When the Chinese companies came with affordable prices and better products, everyone jumped ship.
Unforeseeably, after 2013 many new Chinese brands invaded India and Micromax, and other Indian brands started to lose the market share.
In-fact, due to the hyper-competition in the Indian market from 2017 to 2019, even several Chinese manufacturers closed shop – LeeCo, Gionee, Meizu, to name a few.
Micromax’s Comeback – 2020
Recently, Micromax Founder Mr. Rahul Sharma announced that they are launching new made in India mobiles. The company has launched 2 new mobiles (In Note 1 And In 1B) in India.
Notably, the company is avoiding parts made in China but have to import some of the parts that are either made in Taiwan and other countries.
The phones use MediaTek processors that are made by Taiwan based Mediatek group.
The government later realized that they should incentivize the making of mobiles in India and increased the import duty on fully-assembled phones.
MAKE IN INDIA INITIATIVE
Notably, the government’s push for the “Make in India” initiative has paid some dividends in recent years. As per a report by Hindustan Times, there is a 373% increase in the value of smartphones made in India, from just Rs. 19,000 crores in 2014-15 to Rs. 90,000 crore in 2016-17.
Tremendous growth and Flextronics ( the Company that makes phones for Huawei, Lenovo, Motorola) at Chennai based plant can produce 10 million smartphones a month at their 100 Acre campus.
According to another report by Business Standard published in May 2017, only 2% of the value addition is done in India in mobile manufacturing.
Also, under the Phased Manufacturing Program by the Ministry of Electronics, the plan is to increase this value addition to 10% in the next few years. As of 2020, things have changed a lot. However, there is still lots to be done to realize the dream of “Make in India”.
Why Assemble or Make Phones in India?
Intex, Xolo, Lava, Micromax, and Karbonn followed a similar business model and earned profits in the past but are now struggling or closed shop. Now, the Chinese are selling the same phones directly to the Indian buyers at cheaper rates. It is more like cutting the middleman.
Indian brands assemble phones in India. Notably, they don’t manufacture them. It is mostly an assembly of imported parts (PCB, Screen, body, etc.) from China and other countries like Taiwan.
Also, You need to pay an import duty of 20% when you import a fully assembled phone from China.
On the other hand, if you set up an assembly plant in an SEZ (Special economic zone), you get tax soaps from the Indian government and pay only 1% tax. (The Government has increased customs duty on PCBs from 10% to 20% and chargers from 15% to 20% in March 2020.)
Assembling locally is considered as part of the Make in India campaign. So, most Indian and Chinese brands have set up assembly units in India, including Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo.
Vivo has a vast facility in Greater Noida to Assemble (Make) smartphones.
Samsung too has a massive facility in Noida where they can even make PCBs and other essential components. Samsung recently (June 2020) said they would set-up a plant in Uttar Pradesh with an investment of 5000 crores to manufacture display panels in India.
Additionally, Foxconn has set up plants in Sri City (Chennai) to make phones for Xiaomi and other companies. These Foxconn factories employ thousands of Indians to assemble mobiles. 
It is worth noting that iPhone and Samsung phones are not always entirely made in India. The iPhone-SE 2020 is assembled in Bangalore in a plant set-up by Foxconn.
However, there are many components imported from China and other countries.
Also, I created a list of Made in India Mobiles that you can check Below.
It is not just mobiles, these Chinese companies are dominating the TV market, Earphones/Headphones, smartwatches, fitness bands, Toys and other tech products.
Xiaomi claims they employ 90% women workforce at their manufacturing facility. A social initiative or a cost-cutting measure, you are a better judge.
Realme recently said they would hire up to 10,000 Indian workers at their Indian manufacturing plant and will have 50% of the components from India by the end of 2020.
Realme CEO, to curb the anti-China sentiment, recently (June 2020) claimed in a Video that they are an Indian start-up.
Lastly, Oppo has a plant in Noida that also makes Realme mobiles.
BUT IS IT WRONG TO ASSEMBLE PHONES IN INDIA?
No, in fact, It is good for the economy. As there is employment generation, and it helps to create ancillary industries. Also, the local assembly attracts foreign investments.
But the bottom line is still the same for many Chinese and Indian brands that import most of the parts from China.
China has manufacturing plants for essential components such as processors, display panels, motherboards, ram, camera modules, and other components. The profits still go to China and CCP (Chinese Communist Party) from the Chinese mobile companies (corporate taxes), making them financially stronger.
When you are buying a Samsung or other non-Chinese phones made in India, it helps China probably a little less.
WHY INDIA CAN’T MANUFACTURE 100% MADE IN INDIA MOBILES?
Currently, We can’t make a Qualcomm or MediaTek processor in India, the investment required for such a plant is enormous (Billions of Dollars).
Also, technological know-how is not there until unless the mighty United States starts knowledge transfer and start investing in India.
In the future, we may be able to do it, but currently, it is not happening.
Further, to manufacture motherboard parts, there is also a requirement of mineral elements that may not be available in India in abundant quantities.
Also, there are massive semiconductor manufacturing units in China and Taiwan with cutting-edge R&D that is difficult to replicate in a short period, but it is not impossible.
Several other parts, such as the display panels, camera modules, and motherboards, are made in different countries and imported.
So, if we think there is a 100% made in India smartphone, then we need to get our facts right. However, there are many assembled in India phones available. Lastly, India has also started R&D and Design labs for creating the blueprints for new mobiles.
If we have the will to stand together, work hard and vision for a true made in India – Everything is possible.
What China has done in the last 2-3 decades, we need a vision and an unwavering will to do it in India. But the global co-operation is essential for such a future. We are already doing great in software development, and it is time we step up in manufacturing.
HOW CAN WE BOOST LOCAL MANUFACTURING AND LOCAL SALES?
Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on 12th May 2020, emphasized boosting local manufacturing and “being vocal about local”.
He has decidedly asked Indian citizens to support Indian companies, start-ups, and local production.
We need large Indian conglomerates to start mobile units to match the Chinese companies. Also, we require global investment from large tech companies that manufacture displays, processors, and other essential components to give a strong push to local manufacturing.
Apple has recently announced that it will shift 20% of the iPhone production from China to India. These are positive steps for India, and the growing concern for China will lead to more companies shifting base in the future.
We need to have more confidence in the Indian companies and support them full-heartedly so that they can rival global companies not only from China but from other nations as well.
On the other hand, Indian companies and start-ups will have to work hard to compete with global rivals to offer at par services at competitive prices to the Indian buyers. The old Micromax strategy is not going to work; the companies need to do a lot better to attract buyers.
WHICH PHONES ARE MADE IN INDIA?
We have done some research and found the complete list of mobiles that are made in India. Additionally, we have shared some of the mobiles that are imported from China or other countries.
Complete List – Made in India Mobiles:
| Brand Name | List of Made in India Mobiles | Imported Mobiles List |
| Samsung | Samsung Galaxy A Series, Galaxy M Series | S20 Series, Galaxy Fold |
| OPPO | Find X2, Oppo A Series and F Series, Reno and K-Series | None |
| Xiaomi | All Phones Redmi, Note, K20, Poco | Mi 10 and Mi Notebook |
| Realme | X Series, Narzo, C Series, XT, 6, 6 Pro | None |
| Vivo | Vivo Y series, U series, S Series, Z Series | None |
| Motorola | One Series, G Series | Edge+, Moto Razr |
| Nokia | All Phones are Made in India | Nokia 9 PureView |
| Lava | Z93, Z62, Z66 | |
| Micromax | Micromax In Note 1, 1B | |
| Pixel 4a | ||
| Oneplus | Oneplus 8, and 8 Pro, 8t, 7T, 7 Pro, Oneplus 8, Oneplus Nord | |
| Apple | iPhone XR, 6s, 7, SE (2020) | iPhone 11, 11 Pro, Max, Xs, Xs Max. iPhone 12, 12 Pro, Pro Max |
| Asus | Rog Phone 2, Rog Phone 3 | |
| Honor/ Huawei | Honor 8 Series | Chinese |
CLICK HERE TO VIEW AND DOWNLOAD COMPLETE LIST OF MADE IN INDIA MOBILES
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS – MADE IN INDIA SMARTPHONES
Although the Made in India initiative has helped the country a lot, there is still a long way to go. We don’t have to be impatient, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
It will take time, but it will happen. From straightaway importing the smartphones from China, we have moved to import parts and assembling them in India. Noticeably, the government of India has recently raised the import duty on electronic devices.
It will strengthen the made in India initiative, consequently, will create more jobs and help the economy. We can’t expect 100% in-house manufacturing of a technology-driven industry to happen overnight.
Boycotting Chinese products or not is people’s decision. ‘Made in India’ is a positive step by the center and state governments, and with time there is bound to be more progress.
It will bring more industries since India is one of the largest mobile markets in the world.
Also, when we start to manufacture in India and sell our goods in our shops, that will lead to massive employment generation and put the money back in people’s pockets.
In conclusion, we need to focus on “Make in India” by Indian companies to help the Indian economy in the long run.
Must Check Out the Top 10 Made in India Mobiles That You can buy Currently:
SOME FAQS:
IS VIVO, XIAOMI, OPPO, ONEPLUS, REALME INDIAN MOBILE BRANDS?
No, Vivo, Oppo, Oneplus, Realme are Chinese smartphone manufacturers that make or assemble mobiles in India.
These are sub-brands of the parent company BBK electronics that have headquarters in Dongguan, Guangdong, China.
IS MOTOROLA A CHINESE COMPANY?
Motorola was a U.S. company that was acquired by Lenovo in 2014 and is now part of the Chinese Company Lenovo. However, Motorola has management, which is mostly from the U.S., and the Company makes phones in India.
LAVA, MICROMAX, XOLO, INTEX, SPICE MOBILES ARE MADE IN WHICH COUNTRY?
The majority of the phones made by these companies are from China. However, some of the phones are assembled in India.
These are Indian companies but rely heavily on China for mobile manufacturing. Lava has plans to make mobiles in India and move production from China to India in a couple of years.
ARE APPLE IPHONES MADE IN INDIA?
Only a few iPhones are made in India, while Apple imports the rest of the iPhones from China, Malaysia, and other countries.
SAMSUNG, NOKIA MOBILES ARE MADE IN WHICH COUNTRY?
As stated above, both Samsung and Nokia have manufacturing facilities in India and make/assemble phones in India.
OPPO, VIVO, XIAOMI, ONEPLUS, REALME, MOTOROLA MOBILES ARE MADE IN WHICH COUNTRY?
The Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Oneplus, Realme, Motorola make mobiles in India, but these companies import some of the fully assembled models from China.
Also, please find below the list of Top 10 best selling made in India mobiles that you can buy currently online or offline.
Price List Top 10 Made in India Mobiles July 2020
| S.R. No | Mobile | Brand | Price | Available On | Rating |
| 1 | Lava Z70 | Lava | Rs. 7170 | Amazon | 6.2 |
| 2 | Samsung A10s | Samsung | Rs. 9190 | Amazon | 7.9 |
| 3 | Nokia 3.2 | Nokia | Rs. 9899 | Flipkart | 8.1 |
| 4 | Samsung A31 | Samsung | Rs. 21999 | Amazon | 8.7 |
| 5 | Nokia 4.2 | Nokia | Rs. 12,895 | Amazon | 8 |
| 6 | Nokia 6.2 | Nokia | Rs. 15,999 | Amazon | 8.4 |
| 7 | Samsung M30s | Samsung | Rs. 12,999 | Amazon | 9.1 |
| 8 | Samsung A30s | Samsung | Rs. 15,899 | Flipkart | 9.1 |
| 9 | Samsung M40 | Samsung | Rs. 17,499 | Amazon | 8.9 |
| 10 | Samsung A71 | Samsung | Rs. 32,999 | Amazon | 9.2 |
| 11 | Samsung Note 10 Lite | Samsung | Rs. 41,999 | Amazon | 9.4 |
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