‘Make In India’ Impact: 94 Per Cent Of Mobiles Sold In The Country Now Manufactured Domestically

According to a report published by CyberMedia Research (CMR) for Q3 2018, “Make in India program is contributing to a significant rise in domestic manufacturing of mobile handsets,” and almost 94 per cent of mobile handsets sold in the country are now being manufactured domestically.

The report noted that while Indian mobile market recorded a nine per cent sequential growth over the same quarter last year, the smartphone segment grew by 24 per cent. Also, the market for multi-camera witnessed an explosive growth of 70 per cent.

Prabhu Ram, Head – Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, commenting on the state of mobile phone manufacturing in India said, ‘CKD level manufacturing constitutes almost half of the overall market. Major smartphone brands such as Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi have moved largely to SMT. Reliance Retail Jiophone also entered into SMT production in 3Q 2018. Among domestic players, Lava has the major share in SMT production.’

While CKD (Completely Knock Down) method involves the import of individual components and their assemblage in India, SMT (Surface Mount Technology), allows the imported components to be directly mounted on a printed circuit board.

The report goes on to advice other states in India to follow Chhattisgarh’s lead which recently struck a deal with Indian smartphone maker, Micromax to supply 5 million smartphones. Foreign smartphone makers however have cornered more than 70 per cent of the Indian market.