Vivo gets India's approval for Dixon manufacturing joint venture

India approved a manufacturing joint venture — a shared business arrangement between two companies — between China’s Vivo and Noida-based Dixon Technologies, clearing a partnership first announced in December 2024. The approval had been held up under investment rules introduced in 2020 that require extra government scrutiny of investment from countries sharing a land border with India, a category that includes China. Under the 51/49 arrangement, Dixon holds the majority stake, with Vivo holding the remaining share.

The move could mark the next phase of India’s smartphone manufacturing boom that Apple helped build. Apple accounts for 57% of the country’s smartphone exports by volume, according to Counterpoint Research. Chinese brands, meanwhile, dominate India’s smartphone market sales with 72% of the market, but contribute less than 10% of exports — a gap that shows how much room they have to grow if they start exporting from India the way Apple does.

Ceding majority control to an Indian partner is looking like the more sustainable path forward for Chinese brands. Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi faced tax and regulatory investigations in India in recent years, tensions that trace back to the 2020 border clashes between India and China that also prompted the stricter investment rules.

The venture gives market leader Vivo, which held a 23% shipment share in India in Q1, greater alignment with local policy, while Dixon — India’s largest electronics manufacturing services company, a firm that manufactures products on behalf of other brands — could add annualized manufacturing volumes of about 20 million to 22 million smartphones, based on Vivo’s current sales. Analysts believe the structure could become a template for similar arrangements across the industry. “The approval of this joint venture creates a win-win for both players,” said Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research.

Why it matters

The approval reflects a broader shift in which Chinese smartphone brands expand in India through majority-local partnerships to navigate regulatory scrutiny, a structure that could become a template for the rest of the industry.