A Google executive said the company will start assembling its Pixel smartphone line in India, becoming the latest technology giant to bet on the South Asian device manufacturing market. Rick Osterloh, Google's senior vice president of devices and services, said at its annual India-themed event on Thursday that the company intends to start local manufacturing of its current product lines - Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro - in India and expects to start shipping high-volume products made in India starting next year.
Thursday's announcement follows Google's recent partnership with HP to manufacture Chromebook laptops in India.
"We are working with international and domestic partners to manufacture Pixel smartphones locally. This is the first step in scaling up our production to meet local demand for Pixel devices, and more importantly, it is a big step forward in Google's commitment to India," he said without disclosing the names of the partners.
Google views India as its largest market for many of its services by number of users and has pledged to invest more than $10 billion in the country over the next few years. Apple's production partners began assembling iPhones locally a few years ago, and now Apple is also producing its latest iPhones in India.
New Delhi is aggressively offering financial incentives worth billions of dollars to lure global companies to set up manufacturing operations in India. Many companies, including Apple, want to reduce their reliance on Chinese-made equipment, which analysts often call the "China + 1" strategy.
Various incentives provided by the Indian government to businesses. Goldman Sachs estimates that more than 670 companies could bring in $455 billion in incremental revenue and potentially create 6.3 million jobs within 5-6 years. (Image and data: Goldman Sachs)
"India's EMS industry (finished goods and electronics manufacturing) is on the cusp of strong growth in the medium term, driven by growing domestic demand, the government's emphasis on local manufacturing, including policy support (lower taxes, production-linked incentive schemes, etc.), and export opportunities arising from the China+1 strategy of global players," Macquarie analysts wrote in a recent report.