Earlier it was reported that the Indian government would restrict Chinese manufacturers from selling budget smartphones under $150. However, according to reports, that is no longer the case.
India does intend to restrict Chinese smartphone manufacturers from operating in the sub-$150 price range. The news came from a minister on Monday. According to him, it was just a rumor, and India won’t be taking any such action. Hence, it’s relieving for tech giants like Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo as they’ll continue to sell budget smartphones in a giant market like India.
India will not ban Chinese budget mobiles
India is not stopping Chinese smartphone manufacturers from selling devices for less than $150. The deputy IT minister, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, told a press conference that while India feels obligated to ensure that local businesses thrive in the smartphone ecosystem, “there is no such proposal in our ministry,” he said of the rumored plan.
However, a counter-argument would suggest that local companies like Lava and Micromax would have benefitted a lot from the decision. As Chinese manufacturers continue to rule the budget mobile space, it’s been difficult for homegrown companies lately.
Things began to fall apart when several Chinese manufacturers officially entered India and sold superior handsets at far lower prices, displacing Indian firms’ less attractive products.
Talking about Chinese manufacturers, Xiaomi executives were also perplexed by the existence of such a proposal, said TechCrunch. They said that the company had not heard anything from the Indian government regarding such news. Now that it has been confirmed that Chinese manufacturers will continue to sell in the budget segment, what are your thoughts on this?
