Xiaomi partners with Dixon Technologies to make smartphones in India

Dixon Technologies Wednesday said it proposes to manufacture and export smartphones for Xiaomi India and will explore enhancing the component ecosystem in the country through wholly owned subsidiaries.

In a statement to the Bombay stock Exchange, the home-bred contract manufacturer said the proposed tie up with India’s erstwhile smartphone market leader will be formalised after executing the definitive agreements. No financial details were disclosed.

“This partnership will leverage Dixon’s manufacturing excellence, superior execution track record and Xiaomi’s expertise & leadership in Indian business ecosystem…,” said Atul B. Lall, vice chairman and managing director, Dixon Technologies in a statement.


Xiaomi India declined to comment.

Dixon shares surged 5.3% to close at Rs 3,878.45 on the BSE, after the announcement.

The statement came after the two parties met with minister of state for electronics and information technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, at his office.

“They apprised me about their partnership for manufacturing & exporting mobile phones from India and plans to invest in component ecosystem,” Chandrasekhar said in a tweet.

Analysts say a deal will help Xiaomi India leverage Dixon’s status of being cleared to receive sops under the government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile manufacturing. And for Dixon, it will mean another big-ticket contract, assuring revenue for its mobile manufacturing business, which contributed the largest - 46% - to its total revenue of FY4Q.

Under the PLI scheme, Dixon has so far received around Rs 110 crore as incentives for meeting the incremental production targets. The company currently makes phones for Reliance Jio, Motorola, and Nokia. Out of them, Motorola phones are exported from India. During Dixon's earnings call for Q4 2023 results on May 23, Lall said the contract manufacturer is "very, very close" to finalising two large pacts with the "largest global brand in India."

He added that one out of them is for joint manufacturing and will start operations in the next five to six months in the current fiscal for which a new facility of 320,000 square feet is in the process of being set up in Noida. People familiar with the matter had then said the global brand being referred to was Xiaomi. They added that Dixon is working to create a capacity of 1.2 million devices a month for both the domestic market and exports.

The development comes after a broad push by the Indian government to get smartphone players from Asian neighbours to involve more local players in their manufacturing ecosystem, ET had reported in its January 9 edition.