"The new PLI scheme balances out foreign and Indian players. The support of 6% is a big support. With the government support, we will be able to fight Chinese brands fiercely on the pricing front," Sharma said. "Internal accruals are good for the plan... I will raise money at the right time." The co-founder also called for stricter data localisation, saying that merely storing data locally doesn't solve the problem as companies can still use this data to train artificial intelligence and bots in China.
Micromax has been selling feature phones in India since its exit from the smartphone market. It, however, makes mobile handsets for other brands as a contract manufacturer. The company’s investment coupled with the PLI scheme benefits will help it grow its export business as well. It provided smartphones to US telecom operators in 2019. "We have identified global markets."
Sharma said that handset brands can already source 60% material locally for mobile handsets as the phased manufacturing programme helped the ecosystem to grow in the country. "The idea is to involve local MSMEs to further increase the local sourcing of components for smartphones," he said, adding that the company will work with other local handset brands to bring component ecosystem players to India and there will be more synergies. The company will match the smartphone specifications and pricing offered by Chinese brand, he said, adding that Micromax will not be required to spend marketing dollars like Oppo and Vivo. "I know how to make a product... that's my expertise... once I give competing products and at the same pricing, then the customer will buy."