The leading Chinese smartphone brand Huawei which has got very good traction in India has announced today that it will start manufacturing its mid-range Honor brand smartphones in India in collaboration with leading Sketch-to-Scale solutions provider, Flex. Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Union Minister, Information & Technology, Law and Justice officially inauguated the plant of Flex in Chennai at a ceremony in New Delhi.
Announcing the manufacturing facility from Delhi, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Honb’le Union Minister, Information & Technology, Law and Justice said, “I would like to congratulate Huawei on their commitment to pursue their ‘Make in India’ vision. The Government of India is pleased to see so much enthusiasm for our “Make in India” initiative. We are working towards making India an electronic manufacturing hub. As India is set to become the second largest smartphone market, our government would like to invite even more businesses to come and manufacture in India. This is an opportune time to start manufacturing from India. The smartphone landscape in India is growing every day and such initiatives by technology leaders will help accelerate the growth of local manufacturing industry in India”.
Flex plant will start the production from first week of October in Chennai and initially this plant will churn out one of the Honor smartphones models. The plant will have the capacity to make three million units by the end of 2017.
Huawei considers India a very important market and therefore working with two brands, Huawei and Honor, to cater to the widest cross section of consumers. Huawei has been very successful with Honor range of smartphones and its Honor 5C launched in India in the month of June has got rave reviews and is one of the best devices in affordable segment. Similarly, its latest high-end Huawei P9 with Dual Camera set-up is also getting good response in India and in global markets.
Recognising the state of the art set-up of Huawei and its long production experience, Googl also collaborated with Huawei to make its premium Nexus 6P device which again was a huge hit.
Huawei’s latest manufacturing initiative is part of its commitment to the Government of India’s ‘Make in India’ vision by harnessing local talent, coupled with the infusion of hi-tech R&D expertise and knowledge into the country. The smartphone manufacturing announcement is another milestone in Huawei’s 16-year journey in India which includes its largest overseas R&D Center and the recently inaugurated Global Service Center in Bengaluru.
Mr. Jay Chen, CEO, Huawei India said, “We have been present in India for the last 16 years and as part of our India focus, we have been consistently expanding our footprint in the market. This year especially has been of significance in our India journey. We recently launched our world class GSC in Bengaluru and the start of manufacturing in India is an affirmation of our commitment to India and supports the Make in India campaign. We are convinced about the growth potential and future of India and we’ll keep looking for opportunities to increase our presence here”.
Besides manufacturing, Huawei is also strengthening its after sales services in India with over 200 service centers, including more than 30 exclusive Huawei service centers in India. The company has been very successful in selling its products in off line channels and hence will be partnering with more than 50,000 retail outlets by the end of 2016. This retail network will add to the existing 350+ distributors in India to create a comprehensive, nationwide distribution system as coomunicated by the company.
