Mobile phone companies to resume partial manufacturing in UP

Mobile phone companies like Vivo, Oppo, Lava and Samsung are planning to resume partial production this week following permits issued by the Uttar Pradesh government.

Mobile phone manufacturing units located in Uttar Pradesh account for over 60 per cent of the devices produced in the country. Firms like Samsung, Vivo, Oppo, Realme and Lava have their manufacturing units in the state.

The mobile phone companies will start manufacturing with existing inventories and will need to make arrangements for sourcing additional components to continue operations, according to industry players.

Vivo and Oppo, who manufacture phones in a common zone, said they will resume 30 per cent production from May 8.

"In line with the directive issued by the authorities, Oppo would be operating with 30 per cent of its capacity, with around 3,000 employees working in rotation of its total over 10,000 workforce, starting May 8, 2020.

"As the business gets back to usual in due course of time, the production will be enhanced to full capacity," Oppo said in a statement.

Vivo also said it will resume production with similar capacity.

Xiaomi has announced that it will start manufacturing this week and since it maintains inventory for a couple of weeks, it does not see any challenge in maintaining the pace of production.

According to sources, South Korean technology major Samsung has also received permission to start manufacturing and the company is initially making housekeeping arrangements to conform with the government norms.

"Samsung will also start production this week," a source said.

According to IDC, Xiaomi led Indian smartphone market in the October-December quarter with 27.1 per cent market share, followed by Samsung with 18.9 per cent, Vivo 15.2 per cent, Realme 14.3 per cent and Oppo 11.8 per cent market share.

Electronics contract manufacturer Dixon Technologies Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Vachani said the company will also start production from May 8 and has sufficient components in the inventory to maintain the pace of production.

"In UP we will be operating at about 25 per cent capacity. Our Tirupati plant operations are now at around 50 per cent," Vachani said.