Micromax Plans to Make in India Smartphones by March Next Year

[Mrinal Chauhan]

Gurgaon-headquartered Micromax Informatics is all set to start to Make in India smartphones by March next year. By doing so, the phone maker Micromax will be the first local manufacturer to make smartphones on a completely knocked down approach in India.

Confirming the news, Micromax Informatics co-founder Vikas Jain said, “We are on the verge of importing our first set of CKD units and the company is working on logistics and building infrastructure.” As per the sources, the new facility will begin at either at Telangana or Bhiwadi. Though the company is yet to decide the production capacity, it is expecting the first shipment of CKD units soon.

A Milestone and Value Addition:

Definitely, this move is a big milestone in the journey of Micromax as it creates value addition. As of now, the company makes 3 million phones a month in factories of Rudrapur (Uttarakhand) and Telangana. More than a half of the production accounts the smartphone category. The company also plans to set up a manufacturing plant in Bhiwadi (Rajasthan) and Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh).

As of now, the Indian consumer electronics company plans to invest ₹2,000 crores over the next 5 years period for making handsets, and electronics such as LED televisions, tablet computers, data cards, laptops, and accessories indigenously.

Currently, most of the companies either import fully built or semi-knocked down (SKD) phones from the Chinese market. These are assembled in India with little manufacturing requirement. As the process is labor intensive, the assembling units hire low-skilled workers in large number. While the completely knocked down (CKD) version involves mounting of components onto a printed circuit board (PCB) mechanically. All the PCB and other components are imported from China.

CKD is a value addition as it aids in quality control, provides 2% cost improvement on the bill of material and in turn reduces the overall cost of the phone. With this move, hope the desi company Micromax will focus on competing with international brands.