Coolpad, a China-based smartphone manufacturer, is planning to enter the Indian market with its own brand of phones and plans to set up and R&D facility in the country. According to an ET report, the company will invest up to $300 million for this. This will include plans to set up an R&D facility post which the company plans to manufacture phones in the country as well. Coolpad mentions that it will focus on selling 4G phones that cost less than Rs 10,000 on online marketplaces. Interestingly, according to a Firstpost report, the company will invest only Rs 30 crore in R&D and design in the country and will partner with Videocon to manufacture its smartphones from its facility in Maharashtra. The same report mentions that as of now Coolpad has revenues of nearly $3 billion. Given this, it seems unlikely that the company will spend 10% of it on manufacturing in India alone. We presume some of the $300 million will go toward R&D (perhaps around Rs 30 crore?), with the rest invested in partnerships (like the one with Videocon) and marketing activities etc. We have written to Coolpad to resolve this ambiguity, and will update when we receive a response. Electronics manufacturing in India: The Indian government has been encouraging domestic companies to start manufacturing electronics goods within the country instead of importing them and had approved a National Policy on Electronics. The National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) had also proposed the creation of a $1 billion fund to encourage telecom equipment manufacturing…
