India approves Vivo-Dixon smartphone manufacturing joint venture

Details: Manny Pham; Category: Vendors; 10 July 2026; 383 views

India has approved a joint venture between Chinese smartphone vendor Vivo and electronic manufacturer Dixon Technologies, as the government continues to strengthen domestic electronics manufacturing under its Make in India strategy.

The approval was granted on 8 July, allowing Vivo’s Indian unit and Dixon to move ahead with plans first announced in December 2024 to establish an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) focused on producing electronic devices in India.

In a statement, Dixon said the joint venture will manufacture electronic products, “including smartphones”, subject to customer requirements and the completion of the proposed transaction.

Once the company is formally established, Vivo Mobile India and Dixon will finalise the operating structure and governance of the partnership.

The venture comes as India continues to position itself as a global smartphone manufacturing hub, attracting major investments from companies including Apple suppliers such as Foxconn, Tata Electronics and Dixon itself. The country has become an increasingly important alternative manufacturing base as global technology firms diversify production beyond China.

The partnership also aligns with the Indian government’s Make in India initiative, launched in 2014 to boost domestic manufacturing and reduce reliance on imports. A key pillar of that strategy has been the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, under which the government committed around INR1.97 trillion (US$23 billion) across multiple manufacturing sectors, including INR410 billion (US$5 billion) specifically for large-scale electronics manufacturing.

The programme has helped drive billions of dollars in smartphone production and exports, with Apple and Android device makers increasingly using India as both a manufacturing and export base.