Indian government is reportedly planning on restricting Xiaomi, Realme, Vivo and Oppo from the budget smartphone segment

• The Indian government is reportedly planning on restricting Chinese smartphone makers from the budget smartphone segment.
• A report has revealed that the government intends to restrict Chinese companies from the sub-₹12,000 segment.
• The decision will impact companies like Xiaomi and Realme which dominate the budget segment.

In a blow to Chinese smartphone makers, the Indian government is reportedly planning on restricting Chinese companies from the budget smartphone segment, preventing them from selling devices under ₹12,000 in the country.

According to a report by Bloomberg, the Indian government is planning on restricting Chinese smartphone makers like Xiaomi, Realme, Vivo and Oppo from the sub-₹12,000 segment to give a boost to the domestic smartphone makers.

The report citing people familiar with the matter said that the move comes after concerns were raised over “high-volume brands like Realme undercutting local manufacturers”.

According to a Counterpoint Research report, sub-₹12,000 smartphones account for a quarter of India’s smartphone shipments in the last quarter and 80% of this comes from Chinese smartphone makers like Xiaomi, Realme and Vivo.

This move will benefit companies like Micromax and Lava which haven’t been able to offer similar features as the Chinese smartphone makers. However, this may come as bad news for consumers as they will likely have to pay a higher price or settle with subpar devices due to the lack of competition.

Chinese smartphone makers have been under the scanner for quite some time now. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently revealed that the government is investigating Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo.

Xiaomi had come under the scanner of the ED after the agency had claimed that the company had illegally remitted ₹5,551.27 crore to three foreign entities. Oppo had come under the scanner of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), for customs duty evasion. The ED had also claimed that Vivo had transferred nearly $8 billion to its parent company in China over five years to evade taxes.

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