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Chinese smartphone brand Honor stages India return with local manufacturing plans in early 2024
- Honor’s comeback is underpinned by a licensing deal with Honor Tech, a newly formed company wholly owned by local shareholders
- It will launch three variants of Honor phones in India, with the mid-ranged Number series expected by September
Honor’s comeback is underpinned by a licensing deal with a newly formed Gurugram-based firm, Honor Tech, for an undisclosed “agreed-upon cost” tied to the transfer of technology and hardware.
![The Honor smartphone brand was previously owned by Huawei Technologies until 2020. Photo. Shutterstock](https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2023/08/21/76fddcf4-535f-4205-b11a-4fe7069eb3ad_5c60d7de.jpg)
The company, wholly owned by local shareholders, will make, sell and service Honor-branded smartphones in India.
“All the phones will be eventually manufactured in India,” CEO Madhav Sheth said, without disclosing further details.
“The biggest challenge with the [Indian] government in the past was how can a [Chinese] brand be accountable in India?,” said Sheth, a former executive at rival Realme who was credited for its India expansion.
Of late, Chinese businesses have struggled in India with the government banning several apps and stepping up scrutiny on investments to stave off takeover moves from its neighbour.
Honor Tech aims to capture a 5 per cent share of India’s smartphone market by sales volumes in 2024, with a revenue of at least 100 billion rupees (US$1.2 billion), Sheth said.
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