Samsung to Export India-Made Smartphones to Europe, Middle East and Africa

Korean technology firm Samsung will soon start exporting India-made smartphones to Europe, Middle East and Africa. The company will pace up its production capacity to 12 million devices per month from the 5 million that it currently produces, the Times of India reported.

“We are going to boost our engagement in India further, and are making fresh investments of around Rs 5,000 crore to double the installed capacity. This should be completed by the end of this year,” the publication quoted a company source as saying.

Undeterred by the competition in the field, Samsung is all set for the new spurt of growth in India. The company’s plans are also in line with the “Make in India” initiative of the Indian government.

“Apart from displaying our seriousness when it comes to the Indian market, the move also highlights the capability of the factories here in producing high-quality products that meet global benchmarks,” the report quoted the source as saying.

The company is now preparing for the next onslaught — using India as one of the top global bases to service key markets in countries across Europe, Africa and the Middle-East. In India, Samsung devices, ranging from entry-level feature phones to the high-end smart phones, are produced at its factories in Noida.

The firm now expects assistance from the Indian government in terms of incentives for exports so as to make manufacturing in India competitive, as compared to global hotspots like China, Korea and Vietnam.

Samsung is also set to launch India-focused smartphones across price points over the year, IANS reported. “You can expect multiple devices being launched over the year across price segments that we operate in. These smartphones will be available across online and offline channels from time to time,” said Asim Warsi, Senior Vice President, Mobile Business, Samsung India.

“We invest $14 billion in R&D globally and have five global R&D centers based in India. There are two manufacturing operations as well through which we are always trying to keep ourselves ahead of the curve in R&D towards ‘Make for India’,” added Warsi.

India is the second-biggest smartphone market in the world, after China.

According to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, the Indian smartphone market witnessed a healthy 14 percent annual growth with a total shipment of 124 million units in 2017. Samsung has a market share of 24.7 per cent in the smartphone section and a market share of 20.5 per cent in the feature phone section.