China’s emergence as the world’s largest economy is only a matter of time now. It’s a nation that’s been experiencing a boom for almost a decade now. Wooing Chinese investors is the other Asian giant, India, currently the world’s fifth-largest economy. Like China, India too has a promising future and will in all probability rise as the third-largest economy in the near future. Each one of these nations, China and India offers huge investment opportunities to the other. China has grabbed this opportunity with both hands and made the most of it.
Speaking of the top 20 Chinese brands in India, one just has to start with the Chinese mobile companies that dominate the Indian market, here is the list:
1) Xiaomi (MI)
Headquartered in Beijing, Xiaomi is a Chinese electronics giant that was founded in April 2010. Xiaomi manufactures smartphones, laptops, mobile apps, earphones, fitness bands, and many other products. Xiaomi has also earned itself a lot of recognition as only the fourth company after Apple, Samsung, and Huawei capable of manufacturing mobile phone chips. At number 468, Xiaomi is also the youngest company to feature in the Fortune Global 500 list of 2019.
2) Oppo
Oppo, the flagship brand from Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd is an electronics and mobile communications company. It has its headquarters in Dongguan, Guangdong. They are a major manufacturer of smartphones, Blu-ray players, and other electronic devices. Oppo was launched in China in 2004 and there’s been no looking back. In 2019, they were the top smartphone brand in China and were ranked 5th in terms of global market share.
3) Vivo
Owned by BBK Electronics, Vivo Communication Technology Co. Ltd. is a Chinese technology company. They are one of the leading designers and manufacturers of smartphones, smartphone accessories, software, and online services. As of January 2016, Vivo employed 1,600 R&D professionals in R&D centers in Shenzen and Nanjing. Vivo was founded in 2009 in Dongguan, China. Vivo finds its name from the Esperanto word for “life”.
4) OnePlus
OnePlus was founded in December 2013 by Pete Lau and Carl Pei. One Plus Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. is based out of Shenzhen, Guangdong. They are one of the world’s leading smartphone manufacturers serving 34 countries and regions across the world as of July 2018. OnePlus has its headquarters in the Tairan Building in Chegongmiao, the Futian District of Shenzhen. They have introduced various phones along with other products.
5) Motorola
Motorola was originally an American telecommunications giant. It was founded on September 25, 1928, in Schaumburg, Illinois. After suffering financial losses, the company was sold to Google in 2012 and finally acquired by Chinese giant Lenovo in 2014. Motorola has a rich history and the first man on the moon, Louis Armstrong spoke his famous words, “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” from the Moon on a Motorola transceiver.
6) Lenovo
Lenovo Group Limited, or simply Lenovo is simply headquartered in Beijing, China. They are a leading designer, developer, and manufacturer of smartphones, laptops, tablets, computers, servers, workstations, smart TVs, and other electronic gadgets and devices. As of March 2019, Lenovo is the world’s largest computer vendor in terms of unit sales. Lenovo has its operations spread across 60 countries and its products are sold in 160 countries.
7) Honor
Honor is a leading smartphone brand owned by Huawei Technologies. Honor markets its smartphones targeted at the youth and has also launched wearable technology and tablet computers. The honor was founded in 2013 and it has a line of cost-effective smartphones which gives it the leeway to compete with the other online mid-range smartphone brands in China and around the world. Honor’s phones are eye-catching with hue-shifting glass on the backs of the mobiles.
8) Meizu
Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. was founded in 2003 by Jack Wong. It’s based in Zhuhai, Guangdong. They began as manufacturers of MP3 and MP4 players. It was in 2008 that Meizu shifted its focus to smartphones. It has emerged as the 11th largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. Alibaba invested $590 million in Meizu in 2011 to acquire a minority stake.
9) TCL
TCL Technology or Telephone Communication Limited is a Chinese electronics multinational. It’s headquartered in Huizhou, Guangdong Province. It is a leading designer and developer of television sets, mobile phones, air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, and small electrical appliances. It was the 25th largest consumer electronics producer in 2010. They started in 1981 as manufacturers of music cassettes under the brand name TTK.
10) Gfive
G’Five International Limited is a Chinese consumer electronics giant with its headquarters in Shenzen, Guangdong. The company was founded in 2003 and it specializes in the manufacture of mobile phones and smartphones and their sales in the emerging markets. G’Five earned a lot of publicity after launching 5 high-end smartphones under the G Cloud range of internet technology. The phones offer 5.5 GB of free cloud space memory.
11) Coolpad
Coolpad Group Limited was formerly known as China Wireless Technologies Limited. It’s a Caymans incorporated holding company. Coolpad’s major subsidiary, Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong. It was once the largest Chinese domestic brand by sales outside China. Yulong was incorporated in Shenzen, China on April 29, 1993.
12) Tecno
Tecno Mobile is based out of Hong Kong. A subsidiary of Transsion Holdings, it was set up in 2006. Tecno’s focus is on South Asia and Africa. After establishing itself in Africa, Tecno made its foray into the markets of the Middle East in 2016 and Southeast Asia in 2017. Tecno’s mobiles hit markets in India in 2016. It stepped into the Bangladesh and Nepal markets in 2017 and is trying to penetrate the Pakistani market through online sales including selling them on their own website.
13) LeEco
LeEco was founded in Beijing in 2004 as Letv. It was the first video streaming company in China to go public. The company has business interests in video streaming, cloud services, software development, consumer electronics, such as smartphones, smart TVs, VR, and other business. LeEco has made major expansions beyond China into the United States, Russia, and India.
Chinese footprint in business in the Indian market extends into the world of web browsers too. UC Browser, the popular web browser commonly used in mobiles in the Indian market is a Chinese venture.
14) UC Browser
UC Browser has been developed by UCWeb, a Chinese mobile internet company. This in turn is owned by the Alibaba Group. There came a phase when it was more popular than Google in some of Asia’s fastest-growing markets like India and Indonesia. It was originally launched in April 2004 as a J2ME-only application. It’s now available on a number of platforms like BlackBerry OS, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Microsoft Windows, and others.
15) ZTE
Headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, it’s one of China’s leading telecom equipment manufacturers. ZTE is one of the top five largest smartphone manufacturers in China. It has three business units- carrier networks (54%), terminals (29%), and telecommunication (17%). They also offer value-added services like video on demand and streaming media. It was founded as Zhongxing Semiconductor Co., Ltd in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in 1985.
Chinese footprint extends into social media too. The video-sharing platform Tik Tok is a China-based enterprise.
16) Tik Tok
A video-sharing social networking tool, Tik Tok is owned by ByteDance. It’s an internet technology company founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming. One can create short dance, comedy, lip-sync, and talent videos on the platform. The duration of the videos is between 3 and 60 seconds. They have offices spread far and wide in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo. It’s now available in 75 languages spread across 150 markets. Recently the TiKTok was banned.
17) WeChat
Developed by Tencent, WeChat is a multipurpose mobile payment, messaging, and social media with its roots in China. First launched in 2011, it became one of the world’s largest standalone mobile apps in 2018. It has a monthly active user base of over 1 billion. WeChat is often called a “super app” for its multifaceted functioning. The app was created by Allen Zhang and launched in 2011.
18) Huawei
Huawei is a Chinese multinational technology giant. It’s headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong. It manufactures and provides telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics and smartphones. It was founded by Ren Zhengfei in 1987. Huawei employs close to 200,000 people. Huawei’s products and services have reached 170 countries. In 2012, Huawei overtook Ericsson as the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world.
The Chinese are major players in the automobile sector too with a major presence in India.
19) MG Motors
Once a British automotive company, MG Motors is today owned by the Chinese state-owned SAIC Motor. It’s the largest importer of China-made cars in the UK. MG Rover was acquired by the Chinese automaker Nanjing Automobile which was again acquired by SIAC Motors in 2007. MG Motor still operates the iconic Longbridge plant. It’s an R&D center today which is home to 500 research professionals. In 2017, SAIC Motor took over the manufacturing plant at Halol in India.
20) Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., Ltd.(BAIC)
Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., Ltd. is located in Beijing, China. It’s owned by the Chinese state and is a major automobile and machine manufacturer. It has subsidiaries in BAIC Motor, BAW, and Foton Motor. It also manufactures Hyundai and Mercedes branded cars for sale in China through joint ventures. It was founded in 1958 in collaboration with Daimler AG and Hyundai.
You may check top Chinese investment companies here.
List of top 20 Chinese Brands in India
| SL. NO. | Brand Name | Establishment Year | Head Quarter | Toll-free Number |
| 1 | Xiaomi (MI) | 2010 | Beijing, China | 1800 103 6286 |
| 2 | Oppo | 2001 | Dongguan, China | 1800 103 2777 |
| 3 | Vivo | 2009 | Dongguan, China | 1800 102 3388 |
| 4 | OnePlus | 2013 | Shenzhen, China | 1800 102 8411 |
| 5 | Motorola | 2011 | Illinois, United States | 1800 102 2344 |
| 6 | Lenovo | 1984 | Quarry Bay, Hong Kong | 1800-4199-733 |
| 7 | Honor | 2013 | Shenzhen, China | 1800 210 9999 |
| 8 | Meizu | 2003 | Zhuhai, China | 1800 3070 9925 |
| 9 | TCL | 1981 | Huizhou, China | 1800 419 0622 |
| 10 | Gfive | 2008 | Shenzhen, China | N/a |
| 11 | Coolpad | 1993 | Shenzhen, China | 1800 102 7159 |
| 12 | Tecno | 2006 | Hong Kong | 18004190525 |
| 13 | LeEco | 2011 | Beijing, China | +8-148-033-7338 |
| 14 | UC Browser | 2004 | Guangdong, China | N/a |
| 15 | ZTE | 1985 | Shenzhen, China | 1800-102-5068 |
| 16 | Tik Tok | 2012 | Shanghai, China | |
| 17 | 2011 | Shenzhen, China | 0860-748-886 | |
| 18 | Huawei | 1987 | Shenzhen, China | 1800 209 6555 |
| 19 | MG Motors | 1930 | Shanghai, China | N/a |
| 20 | Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., Ltd. | 1988 | Beijing, China | +861057234680 |
Conclusion
Hope above liste gives you an insight into the leading Chinese brands with a major presence in India.