LeEco is the latest international smartphone maker which is seeking exemption from the mandatory 30% local sourcing norm to open single branded retail stores in the country, as per a latest PTI report.
The Chinese handset maker had applied for single brand retail licence with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in April this year. A foreign company needs to manufacture 30% of its goods in India to be able to operate retail stores in the country. Currently, LeEco operates via online model however, just earlier this week the company announced that it will start selling the smartphone in New Delhi and Mumbai in the first phase and will expand by opening 70% retail stores across India that contribute to mobile sales.
LeEco India Smart Electronics Business COO Atul Jain told PTI,
We have also asked the government to give us an exemption on it, on the 30 per cent (local sourcing) norm. We haven’t heard from them as yet on where the status is. But we believe the application is on right now, so it’s really with the government to come back to us.
Jain stressed that as LeEco is a “hi-tech” company it should be waived off the 30% local sourcing condition. Last month, the government rejected Apple’s plea of exempting the mandatory sourcing norm. Xiaomi is another smartphone maker that had applied for single brand retail licence in March however earlier this month the company withdrew request for exemption of the sourcing condition.
LeEco recently announced that it sold 5 lakh smartphones in its first 100 days in India, since first sale from February 2nd, 2016. In March the company announced plans to make a significant investment of over US$ 10 million to set up this CDN/cloud infrastructure.