Oppo To Set Up 5G Lab In India, Forays Into Financial Services

Mobile handset company Oppo on Monday said it will set up a 5G laboratory in India and expand the internet of things product portfolio.

The company also announced its foray into financial services in partnership with ICICI Lombard, State Bank of India, Lendingkart etc to capitalise with a target to have 1 crore users of the service over the next five years.

“With the development in 5G, smartphones and other smart devices will play an important role and become a part of our daily lives starting from personal, home, office to travel. This will make the ecosystem stronger with intelligent connectivity, centered around people’s needs for a smart and connected lifestyle,” Oppo India President Elvis Zhou said.

He was speaking on the occasion of unveiling two models of Reno3 Pro smartphones priced at Rs 29,990 and Rs 32,990, respectively.

Zhou said that Oppo will invest USD 7 billion in the next 3 years globally to develop core technologies in hardware, software and system, and a communication lab for 5G in India.

The company separately announced plans to foray into financial services business, and said it has started pilot in select stores in tier 1, 2 and 3 for six months after which it will roll out the services across India.

“With OPPO Kash, we will provide end-to-end financial solutions, available at the palms of our consumers. Our aim is to have 10 million consumers in the next 5 years on the platform having used either of our financial services worth Rs 50,000 crore,” Oppo vice-president- product and marketing, Sumit Walia told reporters.

Users of OPPO Kash will also be entitled to free credit reports, personal loans up to 2 lakh, business loans up to 2 crore and screen insurance, Oppo Kash Lead Zafar Imam said.

Walia said the company has started financial services business as a distributor and will opt for non-banking financial services as the business grows and whenever need arises for the same.

“We want to be a one stop solution for financial services. Oppo Kash app can be downloaded by any android phone user from playstore. Now, Oppo Kash will come as pre-loaded on app on all our smartphones,” he added.

Imam said that aims to have six offerings – payments, lending, savings, insurance, financial education and for the first time in India a financial well being score – in the next 18 months.

The company claims to have around 50 million customers at present and is adding 15-20 million customers every year that it can leverage for expanding financial services.―Outlook India