China's "shanzhai" mobile phone manufacturers are planning to bring their production facilities to India to gain recognition of India's huge mobile phone market and obtain legal status for their products in India.
The word "shanzhai" or "shanzai", literally meaning "remote village" in Cantonese, has become a popular name for Chinese fakes and the slang now refers to anything that steals ideas or styles from already well-known products, personalities or concepts.
According to foreign media reports, Shenzhen Mobile Communication Association will organize 12 of its member companies to visit India later this month to negotiate with the Indian businesses on relevant projects. Tang Ruijin, executive director of SMCA, said the final goal of this visit is to build several production lines or assembly lines in India with a total production capacity of over 10 million mobile phones.
In 2009, India began to fight against shanzhai mobile phones made in China because these phones lack International Mobile Equipment Identity numbers. So the Chinese manufacturers hope their products will be recognized in India with the production lines moved there.
It is understood that 1.14 billion mobile phones were made in 2009, about 20% of which were shanzhai mobile phones without IMEI numbers made in China. According to Beijing Telecom Consulting Company, India is the largest overseas market for China's shanzhai mobile phones.
