The Indian government last week announced that it would be imposing a 10 percent tax on the import of key smart phone components including printed circuit board assembly and camera modules. In response to this, HMD Global, which secured a 10 year licence from 2016 to manufacture smart phones using the Nokia brand has announced that they will now want to stress more on the in-grown manufacturing of its own components for handsets in the country.
HMD Global has made fortunes in India, seeing growths of more than four times its worth in the country after selling over 70 million handsets globally since it took over the Nokia brand back in 2016. It partnered with Foxconn to manufacture their own smart phone components as well as Surface-mount technology lines in order to avoid the import charges on these components.
“We are following the phased manufacturing programme. In line with this, we have started having conversations with our partner Foxconn to manufacture our own components in the country,” Ajey Mehta, Vice President and Country Head HMD Global India said in an interview. “Until this year, we imported all our components and assembled them here. Now we will be manufacturing some of the components in India as well… next year more, and the year after that even more. We are following the phased manufacturing programme. In line with this, we have started having conversations with our partner Foxconn to manufacture our own components in the country. It will happen over a period of time. We may be a little behind, but it will eventually happen and the components that attract import duty will be manufactured here.” he continued.
HMD growth has been phenomenal with the announcement of its newest line of smartphones last week with the release of the Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 6. HMD Global has also launched Nokia Mobile Shop – its own online shop for all Nokia handsets and accessories in India.
