HMD Global, which sells the Nokia brand of mobile phones, on Thursday said it has started exporting its Nokia 105 feature phone to the UAE market, leveraging its partnerships with local players in India. Speaking to PTI, HMD Global Vice President (India and MENA) Sanmeet Singh Kochhar said the first device being exported is Nokia 105, the number one selling feature phone in India and globally.
“We have started exports from India. Till now, all of our phones sold in India are made in India. Not only are they made in India, but we are also focussing on making them with Indian manufacturing partners and we are now kickstarting exports from India,” he added. He noted that the Nokia 105 will be exported from the company’s partner factory in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, and the UAE is the first country where the device will be exported.
Kochhar said there is strong relevance for feature phones even now and various use cases – right from low entry cost, lower recurring costs (no data costs) to longer battery life and repair costs. “While feature phone market has been declining gradually, but in India, we have not declined, and we have now become number one in value… feature phones is a big market globally, it’s not just in India. Asia Pacific, Africa, MENA, Latin America,” he stated.
HMD Global is working with various ODM (original design manufacturer) and EMS (electronic manufacturing solution) partners to meet the domestic demand for feature phones and smartphones in India. India is among the biggest smartphone markets globally. While several handset makers have started assembling their devices in the country, many of them are also looking at leveraging India as a manufacturing base to cater to other markets.
The government has also introduced various schemes and incentives, including a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, to promote the local manufacturing of electronic products.
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