Google to manufacture Pixel smartphones in India

As the latest tech giant to bet big on the South Asian market for device manufacturing, Google plans to begin assembling its Pixel smartphone lineup in India. The company intends to start the local manufacturing for both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro and expects to ship the India-made batch starting next year.  

India is a key overseas market for Google, as has been evident in the past. It identifies the world’s most populous nation as it’s largest for many of its services (including Android, Google Search, YouTube) by user count.  

Google has also committed to invest over $10 billion in the country over the next few years. It has recently also partnered with HP to manufacture Chromebook laptops in India. 

“We are partnering with international and domestic partners to produce Pixel smartphones locally. It’s an early step towards expanding our production here to meet the local demands for Pixel devices and even more importantly it’s a huge step forward in Google’s commitment to India,” a spokesperson from Google said. 

Google’s commitment to manufacturing its smartphones locally in India is also the latest win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has successfully courted many major companies to expand their businesses in the country. 

“Mobile manufacturing was practically negligible [in India] nine years back,” said India’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at Google’s event. “Our Prime Minister’s vision of Make-in-India and Digital India, the entire thing has gotten translated to real action on the ground, and today we have close to $44 billion in mobile manufacturing and exports of mobile phones is at $11 billion. It’s generating huge employment. So, I think what Google has announced today is good for Google and good for India.” 

Google is the latest tech entrant to make a push to turn India into a manufacturing hub. Apple, whose manufacturing partners began locally assembling iPhones a few years ago, now manufactures the newest models in the country.