'Local device manufacturing no longer confined to assembling in India now'

India is an important hub of manufacturing and local production will no longer be confined to assembling the components of an electronic gadget, a senior official of realme India said on Friday. When asked how the business environment in Uttar Pradesh has evolved in the past few years, Sreehari, product manager, realme India, said, “See region-specific more than that, I would say that the smartphone business in India is growing, and it is certainly seeing more uptake as we have also seen in the northern part of India. Even for us, the north is stronger than the southern part, specifically for UP as it is a much larger state.”

“Even if you leave the sales side, one of the most important states in the country for us is Uttar Pradesh, as our products are manufactured in Noida. So, for us, UP is an extremely important part not just from the sales (point of view), but also the manufacturing,” he told PTI.

Sreehari was here to unveil the realme 11 Pro series 5G.

When asked to comment on the future prospects in UP and in the rest of the country, Sreehari said, “One of the things that we believe is going to happen at the faster rate is local manufacturing of components as well. Because, at this point of time, our local manufacturing is more of assembling for India as well. India is working on the capabilities of local manufacturing and India is improving.

“We will start to take advantage of working on the manufacturing of some more components in India. And eventually even for realme, in fact we are very few companies which are exporting products, and we will be working on improving that (aspect also).”

Emphasising the importance of local manufacturing he said, “Local manufacturing is very important, as India is becoming an extremely important part of the world, because currently, manufacturing is consolidated at one place, and it (manufacturing) should not be at one place (only). India is an important hub of manufacturing.” On being asked, whether he is referring to China, Sreehari said, “As well, manufacturing (of smartphones) is done there also. India has the potential, and India stands in a very strong position for being the other next country.” On the ease of doing business in UP, he said, “We have never necessarily had particular trouble with doing business in UP. Ease of business is more related to the processes. We are manufacturing (products) in UP, and I would say that it is one of the states which is actually more helpful for us.”

Commenting on the new product’s launch, the product manager, realme India said, “Our realme Number Series has garnered immense admiration and love from our users in India as well as globally, since its inception. With the commitment to providing users with leap-forward technology, we have constantly pushed our boundaries toward innovation with cutting-edge features, exceptional performance, and design.”