28 March,2017 09:23 AM IST | | IANS
Chinese technology major Xiaomi's founder Lei Jun on Monday said India was one of the important markets for the company and it aims to create 20,000 jobs in the next three years
New Delhi: Chinese technology major Xiaomi's founder Lei Jun on Monday said India was one of the important markets for the company and it aims to create 20,000 jobs in the next three years.
In his address at the Economic Times Global Business Summit 2017, Lei said that the company has made major strides in a very short time. He also spoke about China's "Internet Plus" policy which "the Chinese premier started in 2015".
"Internet plus action plan is a new form of economic plan where internet is integrated with traditional industries encouraging to the spirit of excellence in these industries and drive economic growth," he said, adding the policy elevates internet to become the most important engine of growth for China's economy and Xiaomi is one of the companies to adopt it.
Earlier on Monday, Lei said after its success in the online market in India, the company wants to take its offline presence much higher by increasing its market share to 50 per cent of Xiaomi's total sales. Xiaomi's current portfolio in India reveals that about 90 per cent of its sales are from online channels, while less than 10 per cent is offline.
As of today, Xiaomi ships its products to around 14,000 pin codes -- close to 40 per cent of the country's total -- every single week. "This clearly highlights our presence in the Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. As we increase our focus on offline sales, we will further increase our penetration in these markets," Xiaomi Vice President and Xiaomi India Managing Director Manu Jain told IANS.
"We are now present in more than 8,500 stores via our innovative offline distribution network. Last year was indeed a great year and we achieved several milestones while building our India story," he added. According to analyst firm IDC, Xiaomi India has become the number one selling smartphone brand in the online market, with about 29.3 per cent share.
Xiaomi entered India in July 2014 and last year, logged $1 billion in revenue in the country. After entering India, the company opened its first plant in August 2015 and by March 2016, over 75 per cent of its phones were being manufactured in India.
However, on Monday, Lei announced that more than 95 per cent of Xiaomi smartphones sold in India are made in India. Riding on its success, last week Xiaomi announced its second manufacturing unit in partnership with Taiwanese electronics major Foxconn in Andhra Pradesh. Xiaomi will now have a combined production capacity of one phone per second during operational hours.
The plant has also helped create employment for more than 5,000 people from over 100 surrounding villages. More than 90 per cent of the workforce employed are women. Earlier this year, Xiaomi slipped to fourth spot in China as the demand for its smartphones declined 22 per cent annually -- eventually taking it to seventh spot in the global smartphone ranking with a 16 per cent drop in sales.
