Samsung opens world's largest phone factory in Noida, India

[Gabbar Singh]

A timely boost for the Indian manufacturing sector.

Samsung opens world's largest phone factory in India
Sankalp Phartiyal
3 MIN READ

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics has formally opened a new factory in India, which the South Korean tech group says is the world’s biggest mobile phone manufacturing plant, part of its plans to expand production in the world’s fastest growing major mobile phone market.

The factory in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, will allow Samsung to make phones at a lower cost due to its scale at a time when other phone making hubs such as China are getting more expensive, analysts tracking the sector said.

The factory, inaugurated jointly on Monday by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, will also help Samsung to compete more effectively with rivals such as China’s Xiaomi, which became India’s biggest smartphone brand by shipments earlier this year.

“This 50 billion-rupee investment will not only strengthen Samsung’s business ties in India, it will also play a key role in India-Korea relations,” Modi said in a speech in Hindi at the inauguration of the plant.

Samsung said last year it would spend 49.2 billion rupees ($716.57 million) over three years to expand capacity at its Noida plant.

The new factory will help Samsung to double its current capacity for mobile phones in Noida to an annual 120 million units after the phased expansion plan is complete, the company said in a statement.

India, the world’s second biggest smartphone market and home to more than a billion wireless subscribers, is big opportunity for Samsung where sluggish smartphone earnings growth has fueled concerns that its mobile business is running out of ideas to underpin sales of its premium Galaxy devices.

Samsung, which has been assembling phones in India since 2007, also plans to export India-made handsets.

“We ‘Make in India’, ‘Make for India’ and now, we will ‘Make for the World’,” H C Hong, Chief Executive Officer at Samsung India said in the statement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has imposed taxes on imports of key smartphone components as part of a plan to encourage electronics manufacturing in India which would boost growth and create millions of new jobs.

While Modi’s flagship ‘Make in India’ campaign is still a long way from delivering on ambitious job promises, the program has had some success with the phased manufacturing of mobile devices and components. More than 120 local factories currently assemble mobile phones and accessories like chargers, batteries, powerbanks and earphones in India, according to tech research firm Counterpoint.

“It’s a move that’ll obviously play well for Samsung but it also gives a much-needed shot in the arm to India’s mobile manufacturing ecosystem as it will push rivals to consider expanding local production,” said Navkendar Singh, an associate research director at International Data Corporation.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...etter-to-british-pm-theresa-may-idUSKBN1JZ2FJ


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Samsung?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Samsung</a> sets up world's largest mobile production factory in India, reports <a href="https://twitter.com/arnabdutta_**?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@arnabdutta_**</a> <a href="https://t.co/BiaBnYfk8q">https://t.co/BiaBnYfk8q</a> <a href="https://t.co/bEfne5LiN4">pic.twitter.com/bEfne5LiN4</a></p>— Business Standard (@bsindia) <a href="https://twitter.com/bsindia/status/1016382732266541058?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">9 July 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The World’s largest Phone-Making factory in Noida, India! With 1.2 crore mobile phones a month,70,000 employees & 35 acres Samsung establishes d largest mobile manufacturing unit for not merely India’s domestic market but 4 exports to Europe, West Asia & Africa. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MakeInIndia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MakeInIndia</a> <a href="https://t.co/UnvHvQ0pl5">pic.twitter.com/UnvHvQ0pl5</a></p>— Amitabh Kant (@amitabhk87) <a href="https://twitter.com/amitabhk87/status/1016299176861188096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">9 July 2018</a></blockquote>
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[ManFan]

India has been very beneficial in preventing certain losses for overseas companies.

 

[Syed1]

Good achievement for India, hope it makes Samsung phones cheaper.

 

[Mr.Q]

OnePlus to make India second HQ; to set up R&D unit by September

Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus is looking at making India as its second headquarter with plans drawn up for setting up a full-fledged organisation framework in the country, which could make policy decisions required for managing the brand in a better way.
The firm will also be opening its long-awaited R&D facility in India by the end of this quarter (September) either in Bengaluru or Hyderabad. OnePlus has a big R&D centre in China, which houses around 200 people and the proposed one would employ about 50 people.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event here on Wednesday, Vikas Agarwal, general manager, OnePlus India, said the new Indian R&D centre would not be a typical engineering centre, but would essentially focus on understanding the local market and feedback which would be incorporated in forthcoming models.
The company was of the view that the time has come for it to make ‘physical presence’ felt in India as it has all along been considered itself as an internet first company. Apart from exclusive tie-up with e-commerce major Amazon and its own website, the company is busy building up its own offline stores in the form of experience stores and service centres besides joining hands with retail store chain Croma.
Agarwal said OnePlus would have its first experience store in Chennai very soon, followed by six other cities by the year end. “We are growing at the rate of 100% now and have 50% marketshare through online sales. But, the online market is not enough for us. The key focus for the current year would be to increase the offline footprint across India. We expect the growth to come from tier-II and tier-III cities due to penetration of channels,” he said. The company has plans to double the service centres in India from 12 to 25 by the year end. He said that the whole idea of second headquarter was that outside its headquarter in China, decisions related to Indian market could be taken in the country itself.

 

[Mr.Q]

This is great news. When we are a large market, the governments should put pressure on these foreign companies to start operations in the country instead of letting them import finished products and take away all our wealth.

 

[Varun]

Nokia - for what it's worth - still has that large factory outside Chennai don't they?