Motorola eyes India as an export hub

Mobile handset maker Motorola Mobility LLC aims to make India its export hub for Latin America and Asia Pacific markets. Prashanth Mani, Managing Director Motorola Mobility India, told the media: “We have invested in our systems to become export ready. From India, we can export to the rest of the world. “This is being done to bring supply chain and cost efficiencies, which would drive our profits. India will act as an alternate base of production for smartphones as it has cost structures similar to China." The company has a manufacturing plant in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu that was set up about three years ago and currently manufactures phones for the Indian market. The shift in production base by Motorola Mobility, owned by China's Lenovo group, assumes significance in the backdrop of the White House raising tariffs on more goods imported from China, which is expected to make Chinese goods more expensive for US consumers, hitting their competitive edge. Mani added: “Presently most of the exports to the US market go from plants in China, while some of the Latin American countries, including Brazil, have their own manufacturing units, similar to India. But many countries still import from China.”