Tecno, Infinix & iTel Will Start Manufacturing In India

Tecno is definitely one of the biggest mobile players in Africa and different market statistics have placed this brand at the top in the last couple of years. Infinix too has a large chunk of the low-end and mid-range market. Transsion Holdings, parent company to Infinix, Tecno and iTel seem to have conquered Africa already and the company is planning to move its manufacturing base to India.

As reported by India Times, Transsion Holdings is all set to enter India with entry-level devices but the company is starting with iTel towards the end of June. This will be followed by Infinix towards the end of the year and later Tecno, probably early in 2017.

Transsion Holdings targets both the feature phone and low-end smartphone markets. This seems reasonable since about 60% of the Indian mobile market is dominated by feature phones. The brands’ presence in India isn’t all about selling devices, the manufacturing base will be shifted from China to India as time goes on.

Sudhir Kumar, CEO iTel India, already confirmed this. He said:

The idea is to shift the whole manufacturing to India over a period of time.

Transsion Holdings is already planning to have a factory in Noida. In India, Tecno, Infinix and iTel will have to compete with brands like Micromax, Karbonn, Maxx and others. It’s a saturated market already and the new brands need a good strategy to claim a reasonable market share.

Transsion Holdings made its name in Africa where all its three smartphone brands are widely accepted. This raises the question why the company would rather have its manufacturing base in India instead of one of the African countries where it already has a strong presence.