Realme to hire 2500 employees by year-end

Chinese handset maker Realme said that it is planning to expand its direct employee base to 10,000 by the end of this year, and is in talks with its suppliers to set up business in India to support local manufacturing.

“India being a priority market for Realme, we have created more than 7500 direct jobs with 3.5 million production capabilities in the Noida plant,” Madhav Sheth, Vice President, Realme and CEO, Realme India told ET.

“We will be expanding our employee base to 10,000 by the end of this year, while providing more employment and adding on to the ‘Make in India’ initiative by the Government,” he added.

His comments came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan’, which will be supported by a special economic package of Rs 20 lakh crore for the country. India is looking at positioning itself as an attractive hub through various scheme to enable ramped-up local mobile manufacturing.

Sheth said that more than 50% percent of Realme suppliers are from India, and the company is now “encouraging our suppliers to set up business in India.”

Realme said that materials like screens, battery, packaging materials, and internal structure components are all made in India. Sheth said that local sourcing is helping the company recover business after the lockdown.

Realme started operations from India in 2018 and later expanded its footprints to global markets.

Realme was the fourth-largest smartphone brand in the january-March quarter with 14% market share. It grew 119% YoY in Q1 2020 driven by the newly launched 5i and C3, as per Counterpoint.

Realme was the first brand to launch a 5G-enabled phone in the India market (Realme X50 Pro 5G). “Offline expansion, strong value propositions and aggressive branding helped Realme to achieve this growth,” Counterpoint said.

—Gadgets Now