Xiaomi mobile phones have finally won the Indian government's game, and India's business environment has improvedEditor: LucienIndian media reported that India's antitrust agency, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), has recalled its investigation report on violations of competition laws by e-commerce giant Walmart's Flipkart, which is an antitrust report involving Xiaomi mobile phones. Xiaomi asked the Indian government to withdraw some time ago, citing the fact that it contained the company's trade secrets. When the Competition Commission of India withdraws the report, the parties to the case will be required to return the report, and then the CCI will conduct a further review of the report to remove the contents. This is the second such report recalled by CCI, which follows Xiaomi's previous complaint about the leakage of trade secrets in India, which led CCI to recall an antitrust report against Apple in August.After CCI shared its antitrust report with the parties involved in the case, Xiaomi told the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in an application that Flipkart's investigation report contained sensitive business data of Xiaomi, which should have been redacted when the document was shared with the parties to the case, and the sales of its product models included in the report were deleted and then distributed. Because this is sensitive information in the operation of Xiaomi mobile phones. According to a latest data report, Xiaomi has been in the fifth place in the Indian market in terms of sales revenue in the third quarter of this year, accounting for only 8.7% of the market share; Samsung, Apple, OPPO, and vivo ranked first to fourth, with market shares of 22.8%, 21.6%, 15.5%, and 10.8%, respectively. At the same time, Xiaomi India recently announced that its president Muralikrishnan B will officially step down at the end of the year, which has attracted widespread attention in the industry. Muralikrishnan B said that he will remain in close contact with Xiaomi India as an independent strategic advisor. This means that he will continue to provide valuable advice and support for Xiaomi's development in the Indian market. Xiaomi India highly recognized Muralikrishnan B's contribution and said it will unswervingly advance its growth plans in the Indian market. The company's leadership structure remains robust, with an experienced management team continuing to lead the company.Muralikrishnan B joined Xiaomi India in 2018 as COO and was promoted to President in 2022. During his tenure, he played an important role in promoting the development of Xiaomi in the Indian market, making Xiaomi's influence in the Indian market gradually increase and become a well-known brand in the eyes of local consumers. Since the launch of the "Make in India" initiative in 2014, the Modi government has hoped to increase India's industrial value added, increase the share of manufacturing in the economy and create jobs, and externally undertake the transfer of industries from China until it surpasses China and become the new "factory of the world". Xiaomi mobile phones were once a successful example of Sino-Indian cooperation. However, since 2017, the Indian government has suddenly turned its back on China, and Chinese investment in India has begun to be hindered by various obstacles, from customs clearance and tax inspection to investment review, and Chinese investment in India has also declined rapidly. This can also be seen in the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow into India, since Chinese capital investing in manufacturing did not have access to the Indian market, since most of the FDI went to nine sectors such as services (especially information technology), while the other 53 sectors such as manufacturing received only 30% of the total FDI.Subsequently, the Indian government directly intervened in the operation of Chinese enterprises with factories in India, requiring that the senior management must be Indian employees, and that the Chinese enterprises must also give up control and sell their shares to Indian capital, which cannot exceed half of the shares.In order to adapt to the regulation of the Indian market, in addition to hiring Indian employees as company executives, Xiaomi is also changing the overall publicity tone offline, changing Xiaomi India to a made-in-India brand, and establishing other English sub-brands adapted to the Indian market for Indianization, and at the same time transferring OEM orders to local OEMs in India. But even so, Xiaomi has been punished by the Indian government's seizure of huge sums of money. In order to achieve 25% of Apple's mobile phone production in India in 2025, Apple not only promoted Foxconn and Pegatron to the Indian market, but also encouraged suppliers to go to India for local support. However, since 2020, the Indian government has almost completely interrupted the investment approval of Chinese-funded enterprises, and Chinese-funded enterprises in Apple's supply chain cannot enter India's investment production capacity for support, so not only Apple's mobile phones, but even the entire mobile phone industry chain and other manufacturing industries only purchase supporting components from Chinese companies in the form of imports.As imports of components from China are also restricted, India's manufacturing sector has been slower and far less than originally anticipated. This year, the Indian business community has also begun to put pressure on the Indian government to open up Chinese investment in India in order to attract more technology and products from China to India to provide services. Recently, it was reported that India has informed companies, including electronics and automakers, that the government is considering setting up an inter-departmental group to speed up the approval of investment proposals from Chinese companies in Indian companies. The committee may operate under the authority of India's Home Minister.However, the Indian government has said that it will expedite the approval of the proposal only if certain conditions are met. Indian companies must demonstrate that the required technology and proposed investments are essential for the development of local manufacturing supply chains in areas such as high-tech components. In addition, the management and board of directors of the investee company should not have Chinese nationals in key positions, such as managing directors, CEOs and treasurers, and Chinese partners should only hold minority stakes. Four industry executives said the conditions would apply to joint ventures between Chinese and Indian entities, and even to foreign companies operating in India.However, at the same time, India has not relaxed its censorship of Chinese-funded companies that have been operating in India, not only Xiaomi has been subject to anti-monopoly investigations, but OPPO and vivo are also in the midst of other tax and investment capital review storms. Therefore, even if the Indian government will approve the investment of Chinese companies, there are not many companies that have the courage to enter the Indian market. However, India's huge market has attracted the attention of many global capitals, and according to a business survey released on November 4, India's manufacturing activity accelerated significantly in October 2024, and the HSBC India Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Standard & Poor's Global, reached a new high.India's key manufacturing PMI rebounded sharply in October amid broad-based improvements in economic operating conditions and market demand. India's manufacturing growth rose to 57.5 in October from an eight-month low of 56.5 in September, above the flash estimate of 57.4 after a three-month slowdown.The rapid expansion of new orders and international sales reflects the strong growth in demand from the Indian manufacturing sector. The output and new orders index rose to a three-month high, and demand increased significantly. To meet the growing demand, major companies in India are hiring far more workers than in September, and the Indian market has seen its eighth consecutive month of hiring increases.
