Home-bred handset maker Micromax will invest Rs 500 crore towards manufacturing and research and development (R&D) as it plots a comeback in India's smartphone market, backed by the government's incentive scheme…Micromax, which at its peak in 2014 rose to No. 2 in smartphones, has practically been wiped out of the market by the Chinese onslaught, which began to take shape in 2016.
(Economic Times, August 14)
Shilpi Jain's key takeaways:
- The new PLI scheme will be a big help for local brands like Micromax to compete more effectively with the Chinese on the pricing front.
- We could also see more component players coming to India as other brands work to increase local contribution.
- Long term, we could see a complete ecosystem of connected devices being launched.
- Bigger picture, PLI could become a key driver of exports as more brands set up production bases in India.