Google to manufacture Pixel smartphones in India

Google plans to statesman assembling its Pixel smartphone lineup successful India, a institution executive said, becoming nan latest tech elephantine to stake connected nan South Asian marketplace for devices manufacturing.

The institution intends to commencement nan section manufacturing pinch nan existent lineup — both  nan Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro — successful India and expects to vessel nan India-made batch starting adjacent year, Rick Osterloh, Senior VP of Devices and Services astatine Google, shared astatine nan company’s yearly India arena Thursday.

India is simply a cardinal overseas marketplace for Google, which identifies nan world’s astir populous federation arsenic its largest for galore of its services including Android, Google Search, YouTube by personification count. Thursday’s announcement follows Google, which has committed to invest complete $10 cardinal successful country complete nan the adjacent fewer years, precocious partnering pinch HP to manufacture Chromebook laptops successful India.

“We are partnering pinch world and home partners to nutrient Pixel smartphones locally. It’s an early measurement towards expanding our accumulation present to meet nan section demands for Pixel devices and moreover much importantly it’s a immense measurement guardant successful Google’s committedness to India,” he said, without disclosing nan names of nan partners.

Google’s committedness to manufacturing its smartphones locally successful India is besides nan latest triumph for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has successfully courted galore awesome companies to grow their businesses successful nan country.

“Mobile manufacturing was practically negligible [in India] 9 years back,” said India’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw astatine Google’s event. “Our Prime Minister’s imagination of Make-in-India and Digital India, nan full point has gotten translated to real-action connected nan ground, and coming we person adjacent to $44 cardinal successful mobile manufacturing and exports of mobile phones is astatine $11 billion. It’s generating immense employment. So I deliberation what Google has announced coming is bully for Google and bully for India.”

Google is nan latest tech entrant to make a push to move India into a manufacturing hub. Apple, whose manufacturing partners began locally assembling iPhones a fewer years ago, now manufactures nan newest models successful nan country.

New Delhi is actively offering financial incentives worthy billions of dollars to pull world companies to found manufacturing operations successful India. The incentives comes astatine a clip erstwhile galore firms — including Apple — are looking to cut their reliance connected China for manufacturing their devices successful what analysts often telephone “China + 1” strategy.

“With India’s increasing home demand, and government’s attraction connected section manufacturing including argumentation support (lower taxes, accumulation linked inducement strategy etc) and export opportunity driven by China + 1 strategy of world players, India’s EMS manufacture (finished merchandise and electronics manufacturing) is astatine nan cusp of robust medium- word growth,” Macquarie analysts wrote successful a caller note, accessed via S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Google said India is besides a privilege marketplace for Pixel smartphones and nan institution is progressively improving its devices customer work acquisition successful nan country. Google’s partner F1 Info Solutions has enabled nan patient to person 28 work centers crossed 27 cities successful India, Osterloh said.

“From nan very onset of our hardware business, we committed to building and investing for nan agelong run. This is an early measurement successful a agelong travel of expanding our instrumentality accumulation capacity and helping meet nan country’s increasing request for Pixel smartphones,” he said.