Xiaomi gets ambitious in India, wants to foray in payments bank, EVs, apparels

Chinese smartphone major Xiaomi is keen to step out of its forte and plans to sell the EVs, apparels, lifestyle products, toys and start payments bank in India.

As per RoC filing of the company, it wants to sell all types of vehicle for transport conveyance and other transport equipment, whether based on electricity or any other motive or mechanical power, including the components, spare parts. The development was first reported by The Economic Times.

Interestingly, the company is also willing to get into the business of NBFCs, payments bank, leasing and financing including other payment services such as payment gateway, settlement systems operators, and mobile virtual network operators.

Besides selling laptops, gaming console and other lifestyle products, it wants to get into selling merchandise such as clothes, toys, backpacks, and suitcases. Xiaomi plans to enter these businesses comes at a time when it claimed to turn profitable in India.

Last month, Xiaomi announced that it is planning to invest around $1 billion in over 100 Indian startups over the next five years along with its sister company Shunwei Capital.

The planned investments would be focused on sectors including content, financial technology, hyperlocal services, mobile phone repairs, and manufacturing in order to create an ecosystem of apps around its smartphone brand.

The Lei Jun-led company has been selling electric bikes, bicycles and electric scooters including lifestyle products such as apparel, toys, shoes, bags, kitchen and dining products amongst several others in China.

Xiaomi is bullish on the Indian internet market where it has emerged as the frontrunner in the smartphone space. Besides, it plans to redefine the Indian market with a steep revenue of $2 billion, twice the amount from 2016.

Recently, International Data Corporation (IDC) released a report and said that the company accounted for 24 percent of India’s smartphone market in the third quarter, which is over 6 percent rise from the last quarter, when its market share was at 17 percent.