India Approves Major Vivo-Dixon Joint Venture
India on Thursday approved a manufacturing joint venture between China’s Vivo and local manufacturer Dixon Technologies, marking the next phase of the country’s smartphone manufacturing boom after Apple helped turn India into a global smartphone production hub. The approval, granted on July 9, 2026, allows Vivo to proceed with a long-delayed manufacturing partnership first announced in December 2024, after New Delhi cleared the investment under rules introduced in 2020 that require extra government scrutiny of investments from countries sharing a land border with India, including China.
The joint venture will acquire certain manufacturing assets from Vivo, manufacture part of the company’s smartphone orders in India, and can also produce electronic products for other brands, according to a statement by Noida-based Dixon. The 51/49 venture is majority-owned by Dixon, with Vivo holding the remaining stake, reflecting a broader shift in how Chinese smartphone brands are expanding manufacturing in India through local partnerships. Analysts believe this structure could become a template for similar arrangements across the industry, helping broaden India’s smartphone manufacturing story beyond Apple.
India’s Rise as a Smartphone Manufacturing Hub
Over the past few years, India has emerged as a major global smartphone manufacturing destination as Apple and its suppliers invested in the country while diversifying supply chains beyond China. Government incentives have attracted global electronics manufacturers, boosting the country’s role in global smartphone production.
Apple’s Dominance in Exports
Apple manufactures iPhones in India and today accounts for 57% of the country’s smartphone exports by volume, according to Counterpoint Research’s data shared with TechCrunch. Chinese brands, on the other hand, dominate India’s smartphone market sales with 72% of the market, but contribute less than 10% of exports, a gap that shows how much upside is still on the table if they start exporting from India the way Apple does.
Chinese Brands and Local Partnerships
Apple’s India manufacturing expansion has largely been driven by suppliers such as Foxconn and Pegatron. Chinese smartphone brands, meanwhile, are partnering with Indian companies after New Delhi tightened investment rules following the border standoff with China. Several of those companies, including Xiaomi, Oppo, and OnePlus, have also faced tax and regulatory investigations in India in recent years, which helps explain why ceding majority control to an Indian partner is now looking like the more sustainable path forward.
Local partnerships such as the Dixon-Vivo venture offer Chinese brands a more stable operating model, while aligning with India’s push for greater local participation in electronics manufacturing, said Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research. Pathak told TechCrunch: “The approval of this joint venture creates a win-win for both players.” He added that the majority-Indian-owned structure provides Vivo with greater policy alignment while giving Dixon the scale to deepen local value addition and pursue exports.
Implications for Vivo and Dixon
Vivo has manufactured phones from India for years, but the approved venture marks a shift toward a majority Indian-owned manufacturing structure as the market leader deepens its footprint in the world’s second-largest smartphone market. The Chinese smartphone vendor ranked third in India’s smartphone market with a 23% shipment share in Q1, per Counterpoint.
For Dixon, India’s largest electronics manufacturing services company, the venture could add annualized manufacturing volumes of about 20 million to 22 million smartphones, based on Vivo’s current sales, according to comments by Managing Director Atul Lall during the company’s May earnings call. That’s a meaningful volume bump for a public company whose growth increasingly hinges on winning exactly these kinds of manufacturing contracts. Dixon already manufactures smartphones for Xiaomi, suggesting the Vivo venture builds on an expanding role as a manufacturing partner for both global and Chinese smartphone brands in India, and reinforces its position as one of the more reliable bets in India’s electronics build-out.