2 weeks Ago
New Delhi: Indian contract manufacturer Bhagwati Products , owned by the Micromax group, is looking to produce electronic products for US-based companies currently making in China, taking advantage of the 20% tariff arbitrage the country has in comparison to its East Asian neighbour. For that, the New Delhi-based company is expanding its capacity and acquiring expertise to make various products in the mobile phone, IT hardware and automotive ecosystems from joint-venture partner Huaqin, one of China’s top original design manufacturers, cofounder Rahul Sharma told ET. Advt “If you see the landscape today, we are in a better position than others.
So, if we play it right, we should be able to add some clients from the United States,” Sharma said. There is an opportunity to attract production of a wide variety of products — from smart TV sticks to IT hardware — beyond smartphones as companies look to diversify their supply chain to hedge against geopolitical disruptions, he said. The company, which till last year has been unable to meet the incremental production targets under the government’s production-linked incentive scheme for mobile phone, is on track to meet the targets for the fourth and fifth years, primarily through its original design and manufacturing (ODM) business for brands such as Oppo and Vivo.
Sharma expects this business to grow even further. The company is targeting production of 20-24 million mobile phones in fiscal 2026, with more customers expected to come into the mix. Advt Bhagwati is investing Rs 500 crore more at the facility recently acquired from Vivo to increase its capacity from a million phones a month to three million a month by the second half of the year.
Its capacity utilisation rate is 80-90% currently, Sharma said. “In the last six months or so, a lot of progress has been made. We have grown our revenues 10 times from Rs 620 crores in FY2024 to over Rs 6,200 crores in FY2025,” Sharma said.
According to a Counterpoint Research report, outsourced design and manufacturing by ODM firms have surged globally since 2017, with 44% of global mobile phone shipments being catered to by ODMs through outsourcing. “In response to geopolitical tensions and recent US tariffs , several ODMs are expanding production outside of China and may transition towards a more integrated IDH+EMS (Integrated Design House + Electronics Manufacturing Services) model with localised EMS operations in regions such as India or Brazil,” the research firm said. Bhagwati’s joint venture with Huaqin, where the latter has a minority stake, has also enabled design capabilities for the contract manufacturer.
Sharma said he is in talks with Indian brands looking to expand into consumer hardware to offer them competitive products for which they had to otherwise go to China. By Subhrojit Mallick , ETTelecom Published On Apr 18, 2025 at 07:23 AM IST Telegram Facebook Copy Link Be the first one to comment. Comment Now COMMENTS Comment Now Read Comment (1) All Comments By commenting, you agree to the Prohibited Content Policy Post By commenting, you agree to the Prohibited Content Policy Post Find this Comment Offensive? Choose your reason below and click on the submit button.
This will alert our moderators to take actions REASONS FOR REPORTING Foul Language Defamatory Inciting hatred against a certain community Out of Context / Spam Others Report Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals Subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights & analysis. Download ETTelecom App Get Realtime updates Save your favourite articles Micromax Bhagwati Products PLI scheme production linked incentive scheme PLI scheme for mobile manufacturing US tariffs Bhagwati production capacity.
