Two major smartphone manufacturers Foxconn and Wistron have received nod from state authorities in South India to restart production. Foxconn makes products for both Xiaomi and Apple while Wistron also supplies to the Cupertino giant in India.
Foxconn’s latest approval to begin activities from May 4 is from the Andhra Pradesh government for its Sri City plant while Wistron got the nod by the Karnataka state authorities, as per a report by Economic Times. The India Cellular And Electronics Association (ICEA) welcomed the government's decision to let IT manufacturing units including mobile phones resume operations. It is estimated that nearly 2.5 crore Indian users of smartphones and feature phones are in need of a repair or a new device because of the lockdown lengthy lockdown period.
While the approval is definitely a welcome move, labour shortage will be a key hindrance to resuming operations at full strength. Due to an elongated lockdown period, migrant workers from many of these factories have returned to their hometowns which are hundreds of miles away.
Addressing the same issue, Manu Kumar Jain, Xiaomi India CEO said, “The ramp-up will be slow. We are hoping them to be up and running soon,”. The company expects to resume productions at regular capacity by June.
On the other hand, companies such as Samsung and Oppo (which has applied for permission) have yet to receive the green light to resume operations at their facilities situated in Noida and Greater Noida from the state authorities. The handset manufacturing industry in India is staring at a loss of Rs 20,000-Rs 25,000 crore due to the lockdown.
Meanwhile, on the retail side of things, e-commerce portals have restarted taking orders for non-essentials including smartphones. However, due to the manufacturing issue and an upsurge in demand, there might not be enough stock to fulfil market demand.
