Coronavirus Affecting TV Business but Won't Impact Smartphones: Xiaomi

Xiaomi has claimed that the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on its smartphone business in India would be minimal. According to the Chief Operating Officer of Xiaomi Republic of india, Muralikrishnan B, the credit for ensuring smooth functioning of the company's smartphone business goes to the supply chain team and partners of the company, who he said did an "exceptional chore" in managing the rest of supplies.

He, nevertheless, admitted that the crunch is hurting the company's Television set business considering importing the panels from abroad is taking much longer than usual. "There are sure other categories such as TVs which have been impacted due to coronavirus outbreak, equally the panels are imported from away. As panels are taking more time to arrive in Republic of india this will impact us here", he said in an interview to IANS last week.

Meanwhile, fifty-fifty though the coronavirus outbreak may non affect Xiaomi'due south smartphone business for now, the proposed GST hike has the visitor worried no end. In a tweet following the announcement of the rate hike, Xiaomi'southward India head, Manu Kumar Jain, said that the hike "will crumble the industry". He also requested the PM and the FM to reconsider the determination, proverb that even if the government does decide to go ahead with it, "At to the lowest degree all devices under Rs. 15,000 must be exempted".

In case you don't know it already, the GST Council, headed by Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, last calendar week increased taxes on smartphones from 12 pct to 18 percent in a move that has been widely criticized past consumer groups, analysts and tech companies alike. Navkendar Singh, a inquiry manager with IDC India, called the motility 'detrimental to the vision of Digital Bharat', and said: "This is a textbook case of missing the wood for the trees. This will stunt whatsoever hope of growth in the nearly-term, which anyway looks challenging at present due to coronavirus issue at both supply and need ends".