In a major shot-in-the-arm for Indian government's make-in-India initiative, Google is considering moving some production of Pixel phones to India. Of course, the likely move to India may be impelled by the fact that China, from where Google has produced the device so far, is in the crosshairs of the US. Also, manufacturing schedules in China are still to recover after being disrupted by Covid-19 lockdowns.
It should also be said that Google's earlier move in 2019 to shift some production of Pixel devices from China to Vietnam did not pan out well. So bets should be hedged on how things will transpire with regards to Google now planning to move some production to India.
Google looking to improve Pixel sales in India
According to a report in The Information, "Google has solicited bids from manufacturers in India to make between 500,000 and 1 million of the company’s Pixel smartphones, equivalent to 10% to 20% of the estimated annual production for the device."
The report also added that nothing, as such, has been finalised. But if Pixel phones production is indeed moved to India, it would also make commercial and marketing sense. As of now, Pixel phones suffer 20% tax in India as they are imported in India. This levy makes the Pixel phones to be uncompetitive in a price-sensitive Indian market. Google sells less than a lakh of Pixel devices in India - a measly number in a large market.
If Google indeed shifts some of its Pixel production to India, it may be following the path of Apple, which has had good success after shifting some of its iPhone production to India. Its newly launched iPhone 14, for the first time ever, is coming out almost simultaneously from its plants in China and India.
Since 2017, three of Apple’s contract manufacturers in India --- Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron --- have been rolling out Apple devices. They are, cumulatively, shipping over a million phones a quarter out of India. In 2021, Apple shipped out nearly 6 million phones out of India.
Further, around 70% of the Apple smartphones sold in the country are manufactured indigenously. Last year, India accounted for about 3.1 percent of Apple’s global manufacturing base in 2021, a number that’s expected to grow close to 7% percent in 2022, according to Indian estimates.
Perhaps Google is trying to pick a page from Apple's book. Google, for the record, will launch the Pixel 7 and its first smartwatch on October 6.
