Xiaomi's plans for Indian market revealed: VP Hugo Barra stresses on aggressive pricing

Xiaomi has made huge name for itself in China with its marketing and sales tactics, and as a result it has also got the attention of those outside its home country. It has not only got itself a legion of fans outside China, but has also been able to attract top executives from tech giants in the US. Hugo Barra, the former Android VP left Google to join Xiaomi last year, as the company announced plans for a global push. While there was no information then on which markets Xiaomi would enter, Barra has now confirmed that the company will be coming to India soon. It's understandable that Xiaomi would want to come to India, given the entry of fellow Chinese brands Oppo and Gionee last year. In an interview to CNET, Barra disclosed that Xiaomi plans to have an aggressive pricing strategy for the Indian market with phones price "almost close to the cost”. Interestingly, the report mentions that Xiaomi will be using the same modus operandi that has worked so well for it in China. There's a new office being planned and Barra is working on tying up telecom companies and other ecosystem partners in the country. Xiaomi will be using the same hype-driven online sales model that has earned it an Apple-like following in China. Barra reportedly also confirmed that Xiaomi doesn’t plan to build smartphones running Firefox OS or Ubuntu. In fact, the plan is to combine good performance and build quality with aggressive pricing. “We have no plans to do anything other than Android. There's no point. Android has a phenomenal ecosystem. I'm saying this from a practical perspective. If you look at other players who have attempted to build ecosystems and failed despite having great platforms, it's because it takes a lot of work and a lot of time to build an ecosystem," he said. Google India chief Rajan Anandan further confirmed Xiaomi’s India plans in a tweet. His tweet talks about meeting Xiaomi co-founder and president Bin Lin as well as Barra, and how the India smartphone landscape is about to change.

Great meeting #BinLin, @hbarra from @xiaomi Amazed to learn how a business can be re-invented - India smartphone landscape will change! — Rajan Anandan (@RajanAnandan) March 24, 2014

 The company aims to double its sales this year. At the start of the year, Xiaomi had revealed its plans to sell 40 million handsets in 2014, more than double the number it sold in 2013.