Chinese handset maker Xiaomi may assemble products in India

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi is contemplating manufacturing its handsets in India, according to a The Wall Street Journal report citing Manu Kumar Jain, general manager (GM) for India at Xiaomi.

The company had made its debut in the Indian smartphone market in July this year with the launch of its flagship device Mi3 in the country. According to Jain, the early success that Xiaomi has had in the market has prompted it to consider setting up a manufacturing base in the country.

"We always thought that our manufacturing would be based out of China. But India is beginning to become so important for us that we started to think whether we should set up our own manufacturing," Jain told the publication.

However, he added that the company would require at least another six months for finalising whether manufacturing its devices in the country would make sense for Xiaomi. The company has also hired legal advisers to investigate the regulatory aspects of manufacturing its devices in the country.

Last week, the company had appointed Jai Mani as lead product manager in India. Prior to Xiaomi, Mani was working as a Google Play strategy and analytics associate at search giant Google. Earlier this year, Jain, the co-founder and former managing director of Rocket Internet-incubated lifestyle e-tailer Jabong.com had been appointed Xiaomi India's GM.

Xiaomi in India

After making its debut in the Indian smartphone market with Mi3 and Redmi 1S, Xiaomi has had an extremely successful run in the country till date. Following an online only flash sales model for selling its devices in the country, the company has seen its product being sold out within seconds not once or twice but each and every time.

In fact, this led to a lot of criticism from frustrated customers who could not get their hands on the smartphones. Xiaomi Global's VP Hugo Barra even apologised on the behalf of the company, stating that Xiaomi completely underestimated the demand in India. In the country, the company has entered into an exclusive partnership with Indian e-commerce major Flipkart.com to offer its devices.

According to the company, it has already sold over 500,000 smartphones in the country in less than four months of operations. After Mi3 and Redmi 1S, the company is now preparing to launch the Redmi Note smartphone in the Indian market. It will also launch Mi4, its flagship 4G smartphone in India later this year.