Oppo, Vivo, Realme to have Indian CEO, CTO? Big rule change for Chinese mobile phone companies

The Centre has issued a major rule change for Chinese mobile phone and handset-making companies like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Realme, which are widely popular in India because of their affordable prices. However, now these companies will have to function according to Indian guidelines.

According to the fresh guidelines issued by the Centre for Chinese Mobile phone companies, they will have to induct Indian equity partners in their local operations if they want to continue their production in India, according to a report by the Economic Times.

Apart from this, Chinese mobile handset companies like Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo and Realme and others to have Indians at the top posts of their companies such as chief executive officers (CEO), chief financial officers (CFO), chief technical officers (CTO), etc, according to the reports.

Economic Times further said that the Centre has asked Chinese mobile companies to form joint ventures with Indian businesses to increase local manufacturing, as well as appoint Indian contract manufacturers, since some of these companies have Chinese distributors.

As quoted by the Economic Times, the executives said that the Chinese companies have also been instructed to ensure legal compliance and not to evade taxes in India. These new rules and issues were communicated to companies like Oppo, Vivo, Realme and Xiaomi by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

These companies have also been firmly warned against tax evasion, and have been asked to comply with all the legal rules and regulations in India. Through these new rules, the Centre aims at making India the primary export and production base, and take advantage of the local talent and businesses.

While Oppo and Vivo have not made any formal comments on the matter yet, Xiaomi said that all the local senior positions in the Chinese company are currently held by Indians and that the company was one of the first adopters of the Make In India initiative.

READ | Samsung Galaxy, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and other Android smartphone users under high risk, Indian government issues warning