boAt Aims To Grow Indigenous Manufacturing By 4X, Produce 1 Mn Units Per Month

Consumer electronics brand boAt plans to slowly grow its local production in India and go completely indigenous in a few years, according to its cofounder Aman Gupta.  He was speaking at Inc42’s The D2C Summit 3.0 for the session titled ‘boAt’s ‘David Vs Goliath’ Journey To Profitability’.

Speaking with Inc42 cofounder and CEO Vaibhav Vardhan, Gupta discussed about the supply chain issues the startup is grappling with and stated that moving forward, boAt aims to manufacture 12-24 Mn products every year in India. 

The session revolved around how the company plans to scale its presence in the country, especially offline. 

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There have been disruptions in the post-Covid world due to supply chain issues, the Russia-Ukraine war, and Covid restrictions in China, Gupta said, adding that the company could have done better without such hindrances in the upcoming festive season sales.

Talking on manufacturing in India, he said, “It is not easy to manufacture in India yet, and manufacturing (hubs) in the country are only getting set up now. But today, a lot of parts are manufactured outside and sourced to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in India.” 

Gupta also talked about proactive measures including the government’s PLI schemes, but said these are baby steps. 

“Make-In-India is an interesting concept. We have started our journey and we recently manufactured 1 Mn (indigenous pieces) in one quarter. Now we want to grow it to 1 Mn-2 Mn per month from September 2022,” he said.

The Indian government is offering financial incentives under its production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for large scale electronics manufacturing to boost domestic production of mobile phones and other electronic components in the country. 

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Several consumer electronics players such as Ola, Apple and Samsung have been approved to get the assistance under the scheme. However, boAt’s parent company Imagine Marketing is not part of the list yet.

Founded in 2016, boAt is a digital-first consumer electronics company focussed on manufacturing ‘Made-in-India’ earphones, headphones, smartwatches, speakers, gaming accessories, personal care appliances and more. 

Catch Gupta and other key speakers from the D2C ecosystem speak on several topics, including action plans and strategies on how to build, operate, and scale profitable ecommerce businesses in India, during Inc42’s The D2C Summit 3.0.

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