Xiaomi Aims to Create 20,000 Jobs in India Over Next 3 Years: CEO Lei Jun

Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun on Monday called India one of the most important markets for the company, and said that it plans to create 20,000 jobs in the country over the next three years. He also added that 95 percent of the Xiaomi smartphones sold in India are manufactured locally, up from 75 percent in March last year.

At the Economic Times Global Business Summit 2017, Lei Jun - also the CEO of Xiaomi - said the company has made major strides in a very short time, and said that it wants to increase its offline presence to 59 percent. According to analyst firm IDC, Xiaomi India has become the number one selling smartphone brand in the online market, with about 29.3 percent share.

Lei Jun also spoke about China's "Internet Plus" policy which "the Chinese premier started in 2015." According to Lei, the Internet Plus policy elevates Internet to become the most important engine of growth for China's economy, and Xiaomi is one of the companies to adapt this policy.

"Internet Plus action plan is a new form of economic plan where Internet is integrated with traditional industries encouraging to the spirit of excellence in these industries and drive economic growth," he said.

Xiaomi entered India in July 2014 and last year, Xiaomi logged $1 billion in revenue in the country. Riding on its success, last week Xiaomi announced its second manufacturing unit in partnership with Taiwanese electronics major Foxconn in Andhra Pradesh. Xiaomi will now have a combined production capacity of one phone per second during operational hours.

The plant has also helped create employment for more than 5,000 people from over 100 surrounding villages. More than 90 percent of the workforce employed are women.

Earlier this year, Xiaomi slipped to fourth spot in China as the demand for its smartphones declined 22 percent annually - eventually taking it to seventh spot in the global smartphone ranking with a 16 percent drop in sales.

Written with IANS inputs