Xiaomi plans to set up e-com platform in India

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi plans to set up its own e-commerce platform in India to sell its devices and accessories and is also looking at possibilities to assemble phones here in the future.

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi plans to set up its own e-commerce platform in India to sell its devices and accessories and is also looking at possibilities to assemble phones here in the future.

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Xiaomi exclusively sells its devices globally through online flash sales. In India, it has partnered with Flipkart to sell its devices, the Mi3 and Redmi 1S smartphones.

Xiaomi, which entered India just three months ago, has sold 500,000 units up till now.

“E-commerce is core to us. We will continue to sell phones with Flipkart for a long time. But we are also looking at having our own e-commerce platform to sell our products,” said Manu Jain, operations head, Xiaomi India and hopes to get it ready by 2015.

At the same time, it is exploring options to start assembling phones in the country. “We are only exploring that right now (third party assembly). The entire ecosystem needs to be in place for that. We will have to study regulations, taxation related issues as well. So there is no timeline for when we will start assembling here,” he said.

Xiaomi’s devices are assembled by Foxconn, which also makes smartphones for Apple and Blackberry, in China.