Don’t need exemption from sourcing norm: Xiaomi

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi on Thursday said it is not seeking exemption from Indian government to fulfil the 30% local sourcing norm, as it already makes 75%

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi on Thursday said it is not seeking exemption from Indian government to fulfil the 30% local sourcing norm, as it already makes 75% of the devices that are sold in India locally .

Xiaomi's India head Manu Jain has said that Xiaomi manufactures 75% of devices that it sells in India locally. (PTI file)

“We are manufacturing 75% of devices that we sell in India locally. From that perspective, we don’t need any kind of exemption. Our application is still under the purview of the government. We probably will be able to know about it in some time and then share more details,” Xiaomi India head Manu Kumar Jain said.

Xiaomi, in April this year, had approached the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) for opening single brand retail stores in India.

Apple too applied for opening single brand retail stores but lobbied hard for the exemption from the mandatory 30% local sourcing saying that its products have high-end technology which could not be sourced from local vendors. Xiaomi also sought exemption initially but retracted later.

Read: Apple free to take bite out of India after FDI rule change

The government, on June 20 this year, relaxed FDI norms by giving a three-year exemption from local sourcing to foreign players in single-brand retail and a further five-year relaxation for ‘state-of-art’ and ‘cutting-edge’ technology.

The decision to relax the norms was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Jain was speaking on the sidelines of company’s event where it unveiled 4G smartphone Mi Max with 6.44 inch display for a starting price of Rs 14,999. The phone will start selling on Xiaomi’s website Mi.com from July 6 and on other e-commerce platform from July 13.