LeEco opens first India manufacturing facility at Greater Noida

NEW DELHI: Chinese handset manufacturer and global internet technology conglomerate LeEco, which has eight months of successful presence in India, has inaugurated its first state-of-the-art smartphone manufacturing facility in Greater Noida, India. LeEco says that this swift alignment with the Government’s Make in India initiative is a reaffirmation of the company’s commitment to India and its long-term plans for the country. The facility has been set up at a significant investment of $5 million and a further $2 million USD has been earmarked for the automation process.

The technology giant has collaborated with leading electronics manufacturer Compal Electronics to set up this facility in the country. The ceremonial lamp lighting to signify the official launch of plant operations was commenced by The Hon’ble Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad in the presence of Atul Jain, COO of Smart Electronics Business for LeEco India.

Based in Greater Noida, the facility is spread over an area of 200,000 sq. feet and has a capacity of producing close to 60,000 phones per month initially. LeEco plans to rapidly ramp up the production to approximately 200,000 Superphones per month by the end of 2016. This facility will now ensure that users get the same quality of products manufactured locally at better price. LeEco is already employing close to 200 skilled employees at the facility and as it scales up manufacturing, it plans to ramp up this number significantly. This initiative will be key to fostering innovation, protecting intellectual property and enhancing skill development.

At the Inauguration, the Minister said, “With the objective of making India the manufacturing hub for electronics, the Indian Government has undertaken various initiatives to create a conducive businesses environment. As the market size for electronics is expected to grow to US$400 billion by 2020, it is imperative to promote indigenous manufacturing. LeEco is a name of global reputation and it is heartening to see it align with “Make in India” just after entering India eight months earlier. We laud their efforts of training local talents and building a center of R&D excellence in the country.”

Along with this major development, LeEco also announced another milestone in its India journey – crossing the 1 million sales volume for smartphones in India. According to LeEco’s officials, this is a commendable achievement for LeEco, zooming from zero to 1,000,000 in under 8 months.

Commenting on the inauguration, Tin Mok, Vice President of Le Holdings and CEO of LeEco Asia Pacific said, “India is top priority in LeEco’s global expansion roadmap. Our investments here – be it our manufacturing plant or our R&D center that will train hundreds of local talents - all demonstrate that we are here for the long haul.  Our ultimate objective is to offer our users more and more locally manufactured products that are customized to Indian consumers’ needs.  We have a strong R&D team in India and plan to add over 1,000 engineers to it by the next year, which we intend to leverage for designing and developing products that resonate even better with our users here and also in overseas markets.”

Atul Jain, COO of Smart Electronics Business at LeEco India said, “This indeed is a historic moment for us as we translate our intent of aligning with the Government’s Make in India initiative with investment and other commitments. We are proud to have established our local manufacturing facility within 8 months of entering the country, which is well ahead of schedule. Also, the 1 million milestone marks our strong mobile phone presence in the Indian market and we hope to continue catering to the growing demand of users with our locally produced Superphones. We would also like to thank our consumers on this occasion for their constant feedback and support which has helped us in no small measure to grow at this scorching pace in India.”

LeEco entered the Indian market in January 2016 and took it by storm. The company has launched five Superphones, its LeEco membership of content and internet services, its e-commerce platform LeMall and most recently its SuperTVs – the Super3 Series. The Superphones have made an enormous dent in the market and the 1 million milestone speaks for their growing popularity. To celebrate this occasion, LeEco will be offering highly attractive “Le Million Joy” package for Indian users from August 30 to September 1, available both on LeMall and Flipkart.