India on Thursday approved a manufacturing joint venture between China’s Vivo and local manufacturer Dixon Technologies. It’s a move that could mark the next phase of India’s smartphone manufacturing boom after Apple helped establish the country as a global smartphone production hub.
The approval allows Vivo to move forward with its long-delayed manufacturing partnership, which was first announced in December 2024. This was after New Delhi approved investments under investment rules introduced in 2020 that require additional government scrutiny for investments from countries that share a border with India (a category that includes China). The joint venture will acquire certain manufacturing assets from Vivo and manufacture a portion of the company’s smartphone orders in India and may also produce electronic products for other brands, according to a stock exchange filing by Noida-based Dixon.
The 51/49 venture (majority owned by Dixon and the remainder held by Vivo) reflects a broader shift in how Chinese smartphone brands are expanding manufacturing in India through local partnerships. With the industry watching to see how the government judges the relationship between Chinese capital and domestic manufacturing, analysts believe the structure could serve as a template for similar agreements across the industry and help expand India’s smartphone manufacturing story beyond Apple.
Over the past few years, India has emerged as a major global smartphone manufacturing hub as Apple and its suppliers expanded iPhone production in India and diversified its supply chain beyond China. Government incentives have also helped attract global electronics manufacturers and strengthened the country’s role in global smartphone production.
Apple has been setting up manufacturing in India for several years and now accounts for 57% of the country’s smartphone exports, according to data from Counterpoint Research shared with TechCrunch. On the other hand, Chinese brands dominate Indian smartphone market sales with 72% of the market but contribute less than 10% of exports. This is a gap that shows how much upside there still is if, like Apple, it starts exporting from India.
Apple’s manufacturing expansion in India has been primarily driven by suppliers such as Foxconn and Tata. Meanwhile, Chinese smartphone brands are increasingly seeking partnerships with Indian companies after New Delhi tightened investment rules for the neighboring country following a border clash with China in 2020. Several companies, including Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi, have faced tax and regulatory scrutiny in India in recent years, which helps explain why ceding majority control to Indian partners now appears to be a more sustainable path.
Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research, said local partnerships like the Dixon-Vivo venture cater to India’s push to expand local participation in electronics manufacturing while providing Chinese brands with a more stable operating model.
“The approval of this joint venture is a win-win for both players,” Pathak told TechCrunch. He added that the majority Indian-owned structure provides Vivo with greater policy alignment while also giving Dixon the scale to deepen local value addition and pursue exports.
Vivo has been manufacturing and exporting smartphones from India for several years, but the approved venture marks a shift to a majority-Indian-owned manufacturing structure as the market leader expands its presence in the world’s second-largest smartphone market. According to Counterpoint, the Chinese smartphone vendor maintained its top position in the Indian smartphone market with a 23% shipment share in the first quarter.
Dixon, India’s largest electronics manufacturing services company, could add about 20 to 22 million smartphones per year based on Vivo’s current sales, managing director Atul Lall said in a May earnings call. This is a significant increase in scale for a public company whose growth increasingly depends on winning exactly these kinds of manufacturing contracts.
Dixon already manufactures smartphones for Xiaomi and suggested that the Vivo venture expand its role as a manufacturing partner for both global and Chinese smartphone brands in India and strengthen its position as one of the most reliable investments in building Indian electronics.
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