Govt is planning for entry barriers for Chinese mobile firms

Governments commitment for make in India seems to take the highway. The government has drawn up a three-pronged strategy to create entry barriers for Chinese manufacturers in the below Rs 12,000 mobile phone segment to create room for Indian manufacturers.

If the Chinese handset makers do not agree with the set of conditions the government wants them to comply with, handsets priced below Rs 12,000 will be subjected to various Bureau of Indian Standards checks in addition to security and safety verification.

This will be quite similar to Trusted Telecom Portal, which the government launched last year under the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) where telecom operators have to submit details about their equipment vendors.

Essentially, the move is aimed at pushing Chinese giants out of the lower segment of the world’s second-biggest mobile market, according to people familiar with the matter.

This move is towards offering affordable smartphones by the Indian manufactures to the netizens with make in India tag as we have witnessed a high demand for the entry level market,which is tapped by Xiaomi, OppO, Vivo and Realme. Chinese smartphone players now sell the vast majority of devices in India.

Going forward, it’ll bring an opportunity for the local players such as Lava and Micromax to boost their sales in this category and regain the market share.
 

Smartphones under $150 contributed to a third of India’s sales volume for the quarter through June 2022, with Chinese companies accounting for up to 80% of those shipments, according to market tracker Counterpoint.
 

This development comes at a time when Chinese smartphone brands Xiaomi, vivo, and Oppo are on the Indian government's radar for illegal business activities in the country, including money laundering and tax evasion.