“Chinese smartphone brands are also looking at Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nigeria as replacements for India,” the report claimed citing a Chinese executive based in India.
“The management in Chinese smartphone brands in India felt a palpable sense of being squeezed by the Indian government’s crackdown and its [protectionist] actions to improve domestic companies’ capability to make sophisticated electronics such as smartphones,” the executive said.
The report cited a recent deal by mobile phone maker OPPO with the government of Egypt for a $20 million manufacturing plant there. The report said the deal may herald the exodus of Chinese companies from India.
“OPPO’s memorandum of understanding with the Egyptian government to set up a $20 million smartphone facility may be a pacesetter,” the Chinese executive told Global Times.
India has stepped up its crackdown on Chinese firms over the years.
The Indian government is looking into cases of alleged tax evasion by three Chinese mobile companies — OPPO, Vivo India, and Xiaomi.
The companies were served notices by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for duty evasion.
India has also banned more than 300 Chinese apps, including Tencent’s WeChat and ByteDance’s TikTok.
The country is now bolstering its domestic smartphone and chip manufacturing sector.
The Gujarat government has partnered Vedanta and Foxconn, aiming an investment of Rs 1.54 lakh crore to achieve self-reliance in the field of semiconductor manufacturing.
Tata Group is also reportedly in talks with Taiwan-based Wistron to ramp up iPhone production capacity by 500 percent in the country.
With IANS Inputs
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