Xiaomi launches its first Made-in-India phone

China's Xiaomi Redmi 2 smartphones are displayed to the media during their launch in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Chinese low-cost Smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi launched its first Made-in-India phone in the north coastal Andhra city of Visakhapatnam, giving a major boost to the 'Make in India' campaign.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, unveiling the first Smartphone manufactured locally, said: "It is a proud moment for the State to have Xiaomi, which is being rebranded as Mi. They say Mi stands for Mobile Internet and Mission Impossible. I like Mission Impossible because it shows their grand vision and goals."
Pointing out that the Chinese company had brought out the 'Made in India' Smartphone within six months of his meeting with company officials in Beijing, Naidu said Xiaomi was competing with giants like Samsung and Apple to deliver cost-effective models. "It shows that the company is aiming high. As for me, I am a strong believer in technology and my government is ensuring use of technology in welfare schemes which is the way to serve the people," he said. Manu Jain, CEO, Xiaomi India said Xiaomi was the third largest smartphone maker in the world after Samsung and Apple.
Given that global smartphone sales are estimated to grow from 1.5 billion in 2015 to 1.7 billion by 2017 and India will become the second largest smartphone market by 2017 after China, Xiaomi is looking to expand its presence and increase its market share in the country.
The first Mi phone to be manufactured in India is Redmi 2 Prime, an enhanced version of Redmi 2 with 2GB RAM and 16GB Flash, which are available for Rs6,999 on Mi.com awnd other partner sites.
- business@khaleejtimes.com