With the demand for smartphones set to increase significantly in the future, Chinese mobile phones manufacturer Vivo plans to invest nearly ₹3,500 crore more to expand its manufacturing capacity in India. 

₹7,900-crore commitment

“This is the company’s third investment and will take its total commitment in manufacturing to about ₹7,900 crore (nearly $1 billion), to happen in multiple phases,” said Nipun Marya, Director - Brand Strategy, Vivo India.

“Vivo has so far invested ₹400 crore in its plant in Greater Noida to manufacture 25 million phones annually,” Marya told BusinessLine.  “When the capacity was reaching 100 per cent, the company invested another ₹400 crore in the second phase to expand the annual capacity by 8.4 million phones to take the total capacity to 33.4 million.” 

He added that for FY19, Vivo India reported a revenue of around ₹11,000 crore.

“With the kind of growth we are seeing, a few months ago we announced an investment commitment of around ₹3,600 crore in a manufacturing facility adjacent to our existing facility,” he said. 

“We have now firmed up an additional investment of ₹3,500 crore to take the total investment in manufacturing to around ₹7,900 crore in two projects,” he added without giving a time frame.

“The expansion involving the ₹3,500-crore investment will happen at a new location in Greater Noida, where the company has acquired 169 acres of land. We are still making the plans. With the demand growing and our market share increasing, we need to ramp up capacity,” he said. 

It is estimated that the number of smartphone users in India will reach 445 million by 2022 from the present 350 million. 

The existing plant employs around 7,500 people, said Marya. An additional 2,500 people are to be hired as the capacity is raised by 8.4 million phones, taking the total employment to nearly 10,000, he added. 

Asked if Vivo will export its ‘Made in India’ phones, Marya said there is no scope immediately as the domestic demand is high. “However, if there is a possibility to export, we will certainly evaluate it,” he added.

Vivo S1 launch

The sale of Vivo phones has been predominantly offline but the company recently ventured into online sales with its Z1 Pro model on Flipkart. “There are six variants, of which three are out of stock,” said Marya, who was here to launch the Vivo S1 phones in Tamil Nadu.

“Vivo currently has 15 products in the market at prices ranging between ₹9,000 and ₹45,000. There are plans to launch six more phones before Diwali,” he said.