Samsung is investing $500 million to set up a new plant in Delhi for manufacturing smartphone displays, technology news website Tech Crunch reported on Monday.
The South Korean smartphone-maker disclosed its investment and the plans for the plant to a local regulator earlier this month, the report said.
Samsung had previously invested $700 million to build its existing manufacturing plant at Noida in 2018. It was then claimed to be the largest mobile phone manufacturing plant in the country. The upcoming plant will also utilise a few acres of land from this existing plant.
Samsung plans to produce smartphone displays alongside other devices at the plant. In-house production can lead to the possibility of future Samsung devices to be sold at relatively cheaper prices in the country, reports say.
Government’s proposed plans for mobile phone-makers
Samsung setting up a new manufacturing plant is in line with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s strategy to increase in-house production of smartphones.
According to a Bloomberg report, the Ministry had proposed to offer subsidised loans to mobile handset manufacturers in order to attract tech giants such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co’s suppliers to open more factories in the country.
The proposal is to be considered by the Ministry of Finance for the upcoming Budget to be unveiled on February 1. India aims to produce $24 billion worth of mobile phones this year and overall $190 billion worth of mobile phones by 2025, an official had said as quoted in the Bloomberg report.
Competitive smartphone market
Samsung is currently trying to regain its stronghold in the Indian smartphone market after losing a major chunk of its market share to BBK Electronics’ sub-brands OnePlus, Realme and Xiaomi.
OnePlus has already invested ₹1,000 crore in phases to optimise its research and development facility in Hyderabad, according to previous reports.
According to a report by IDC, BBK Electronics, through its sub-brands, holds 40 per cent market share, while Samsung currently holds 19.1 per cent market share in the Indian smartphone market.
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