Rupee Slide Against US Dollar Adding to Pricing Pressure: Xiaomi

On the sidelines of the Redmi Note 6 Pro launch in India, Xiaomi said that rupee’s slide against the US dollar is adding to pricing pressure for the Chinese tech major in India, particularly in the handset market that is witnessing stiff competition. Xiaomi, earlier this month, hiked prices of two of its handsets Redmi 6 and Redmi 6A as well as that of power banks and some television sets on account of the depreciation of the rupee against the greenback.

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“The rupee has depreciated by about 15% since the beginning of the year. While we do make our phones and power banks in India, but raw material and PCBA (printed circuit board assembly) is bought in dollars. This (depreciation) is adding pressure on us… we want to continue to offer ‘honest’ pricing to customers,” Xiaomi Vice-President and India Managing Director Manu Jain told reporters of PTI at the launch event.

To offset the impact, prices of various products were raised ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 2,000 with effect from November 11. In April this year, Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun had said the company would keep its net profit margin at under 5% to earn the “long-term support” of its customers.

India is a key market for Xiaomi and the company is aggressively ramping up its product portfolio and offline presence (through Mi Homes, Mi Preferred Partners and Mi Stores) as it aims to continue its dominance in the Indian market.