Xiaomi has partnered homegrown consumer electronics contract manufacturer Dixon Technologies for ‘Make in India’ Mi TV that will be launching in August in India, according to the latest ET report. The company will now make 55K sets every month.
The local production of the Mi TV will commence a month after the official announcement at Dixon’s new Tirupati plant. Xiaomi will likely focus on 32- and 43-inch models through this partnership which may later be expanded to newer models. It is also reported that Xiaomi might deal with Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn to further expand TV production locally. Foxconn might manufacture the 55-inch model at its Chennai facility.
Xiaomi-Dixon Technologies will go “open cell” route where Xiaomi will import television panels in the open-cell state that are required for assembling since India has no panel fabrication facility and all leading television manufacturers like Samsung and LG import panels in open cell state to save on import duties.
Xiaomi currently pays 20% duty for importing its televisions as entirely built units, resulting in 2% surcharge. Local production in open cell route attracts just 5% import duty, with 1% additional surcharge. It recently increased the price of its 55-inch Mi TV 4 by Rs. 5000 due to importing of PCBAs to ramp up the supply due to huge demand.