LeEco debuted the Indian smartphone market with the launch of Le 1s and Le Max back in January. Now, promoting the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India and Digital India initiative, LeEco the Chinese Internet and technology conglomerate is also planning to set up a manufacturing base along with the research and development centers in the country. Apart from this, the company has also decided to establish retail and offline stores across the country to increase its market share.
Liu Hong, Vice Chairman & Co-founder, LeEco, said,
“We have already applied for the single-brand retail license with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). The ministry of communications and information technology has given us options like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Raipur’s electronic cluster, Bhopal and Bhilwada (Rajasthan) to set up our manufacturing base. We will evaluate all the options before finalizing our manufacturing location.” He further added, “We are looking forward to meeting the Indian prime minister and the telecom minister because we want to contribute for ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ initiatives. We would like them to understand our ecosystem and support us manufacture in the country.”
The company is in plans to open 8-10 LeEco stores and 500 franchise stores across India with an initial investment of Rs. 50 crores. The offline stores will be set up in the main cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad & Delhi among others and will exclusively sell the products like Le Superphones, Le TV’s, VR headsets, Bluetooth devices and power banks. LeEco is also planning to set up Content Delivery Networks across ten cities in India with an initial investment of $10 million and R & D center in Bengaluru to connect the Indian technology with their ecosystem.
According to a recent study, India has become the second largest smartphone market regarding active smartphone users, crossing 220 million marks and is in roads to take up the top spot shortly. With the increase in demand, LeEco is sensing bright future and aiming to be among the top three players in the Indian market soon. The company is planning to disrupt the Indian smartphone market by offering high quality products at reasonable prices which the Indian consumers are always demanding.
