HMD Global, the maker of Nokia-branded phones, envisions making India its future export hub. The company will be deploying a large part of the recently raised $230 million from investors such as Nokia Technologies, Google and Qualcomm. It aims to work with local contract manufacturers, chipset designer Qualcomm, and internet giant Google to bring low-cost 4G and affordable 5G smartphones in the coming future. Google and Qualcomm had announced a similar partnership with Indian telecom operator Reliance Jio last month.

“We are planning to also partner with big operators and telcos as well in addition to the internet players or the online players that we are already partnering with,” says Florian Seiche, CEO, HMD Global. “I definitely see there’s a great opportunity in making deeper partnerships also with operators and other channel partners in India”. Seiche added that the company is in talks with Indian contract manufacturers for its upcoming smartphone portfolio to initially serve the Indian market and later for exports as well.

HMD Global aims to work with local contract manufacturers, chipset designer Qualcomm, and internet giant Google to bring low-cost 4G and affordable 5G smartphones in the coming future.

“For smartphones, we are at the moment in deep discussions with local manufacturing partners, with the government, but also even with local possible component partners. So, we are very excited to see those possibilities become real in the next couple of months. And once we have that established then obviously, as a future step, we could also envision India to be an export hub for us,” asserts Seiche.

HMD Global is an independent Finnish company which believes that mobile technology can enhance our everyday lives. That’s why the company is working to make it accessible to everyone with devices that embody its principles of design, performance and security. When HMD was established in 2016, it stepped into the smartphone business with a drive that would kick things off rapidly. In just 11 months, its first 11 phones were released to customers around the world. Featuring five feature phones and six Android smartphones, it was a range that offered choice and reliability to every user segment. The company established 50 offices around the world in our first 12 months, quickly securing its foothold in the global market.