Xiaomi Supplier Dixon In Talks For A Majority Stake In Transsion Holdings’ India Unit

Indian electronics contract manufacturer Dixon is in talks with the local unit of Chinese handset maker Transsion Holdings for a potential acquisition.

Dixon is looking to buy a majority stake in Transsion’s India business, which is valued at around INR 700 Cr, ET reported.

Transsion Holdings, which makes smartphones and feature phones for its brands Techno, Infinix and Itel, has a capacity of 25-30 Mn units at its three manufacturing units in Noida. The three brands together have a 14% share of India’s overall mobile handset market and an 8% share of the smartphone segment.

Dixon on the other hand has a manufacturing capacity of 30 Mn smartphones and 50 Mn feature phones at its four plants in Noida. It is already a manufacturer of domestic and international brands like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Realme, Samsung, Motorola and Jio.

In September last year, Dixon also announced to invest over INR 400 Cr ($48.2 Mn) in a new manufacturing facility located on the outskirts of New Delhi. Spanning 300,000 square feet, the plant will primarily focus on producing Xiaomi smartphones.

The development comes at a time when the Indian government is leaving no stone unturned to promote its ‘Make In India’ initiative. The Centre wants Indian companies to have more hold over the country’s mobile phone industry, which is currently dominated by Chinese brands like Xiaomi and Oppo among others, as part of an informal mandate, according to the media report.

This is partly due to pressure from the government to engage with local players and benefit from the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for phone manufacturing. The scheme’s objective is to generate incremental production worth INR 3.35 Tn over the next six years.

Earlier in August 2023, the Centre received 38 applications, including 25 from domestic companies, for the PLI Scheme 2.0 for IT hardware including Dixon Technologies (India), VVDN Technologies, Optiemus Infracom, and Sahasra Electronic Solutions. Global PC manufacturers such as Dell, Hewlett Packard, Foxconn (through a subsidiary), Asus, Acer, and Flex also submitted their applications.

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