LeEco is looking at setting up single brand retail trading of electronic products both through retail stores and e-commerce portal in India.
Filing an application with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), LeEco has sought relaxation from the 30 percent domestic sourcing rule in order to bring in “cutting edge technology.” This indicates that LeEco does not want to make investment in its own manufacturing facility in India.
During April-December 2015, FDI in India increased by 40 percent to $29.44 billion as compared to $21.04 billion during the same period in 2014.
Recently, LeEco introduced two smartphones Le 1s and Le Max in India.
LeEco plans to open fully owned retail stores in top 8 to 10 cities, starting with New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru. LeEco plans to display its Ecosystem ranging from phones, TVs, VR Headsets, Bluetooth devices and power banks. The Chinese company will also open 500 franchise stores.
“India is a key market for LeEco and we plan to significantly invest in setting up our business model in the country. We have received a great response from consumers so far for our Superphones and now plan to strengthen our presence in the market by opening our own stores and e-commerce portal to offer our users the best-in-class experience,” said Atul Jain, COO, Smart Electronics Business, LeEco India.
Earlier this month, LeEco India announced setting up in-house Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) in 10 cities across India by end of 2016, making a significant investment of over $10 million to set up this CDN/cloud infrastructure.
LeEco shared its plans to set-up R&D centre in Bangalore with a staff of 1,000 employees by the end of 2016.
Vina Krishnan
editor@telecomlead.com
