It appears Make In India initiative of our honourable Prime Minister is catching up with Chinese handsets makers. After Xiaomi and Gionee, it is the turn of another Chinese reputed brand Oppo, which entered India with a bang in January last year to start assembling its smartphones in India. Oppo has announced today that it will setup manufacturing unit in India by August focusing on the domestic market and key overseas markets.
According to Sky Li, Vice President, OPPO, “India is the top priority in our expansion plans in South Asia this year. We have received tremendous support and appreciation from the customers and it is now time to reciprocate the feeling. The Smartphone boom in India indicates the time is just right to focus on expansion plans and increasing volume in India to a comparable level with the China market in the next five years. 2015 will be a year of expansion for us. We are already among the “top three” players in Indonesia, with more than 11 percent market share. Similarly we have 13 percent in Vietnam and almost 11 percent in Malaysia. Globally, we plan to sell more that 15 million units this year.”
Besides ramping up its focus on manufaturing, Oppo India is also expanding its sales and service network and expects a fair growth and a bigger share of the market in the times to come. The company claims to have sold around 400, 000 smartphones in India and are targeting for 1.5 million units this year .OPPO India has plans to expand more service centers this year. As of now, they have 120 service centers across India and are targeting to open 200 service centres by end of 2015.
Oppo India started its journey in India with their flagship device OPPO N1 that is the world’s first smartphone with a 5.9” screen, 206-degree rotating camera and rear touch panel. Besides the OPPO N1, the brand’s current India portfolio includes the OPPO R1, OPPO Find 5 Mini, OPPO Neo, OPPO Yoyo, OPPO Joy and the just-launched first 2k resolution smartphone in the world, OPPO Find 7 and its lower-end variant Find 7A.
According to CMR India Monthly Mobile Handsets Market Review, a total of 53 million mobile handsets were shipped in first quarter of calendar Year 2015. Out of these, 19.5 million or about 37 percent of handsets were smartphones, while rest were feature phones. In such a scenario, it is the ideal time for any brand to make hay in India with local manufacturing while the sun shines.
