“Make in India” to be the mantra for RIL's Lyf products

Riding high on the success of Reliance Jio, Reliance Industries (RIL) is planning to build its products like Lyf-branded 4G smartphones, smart set-top boxes, home automation and automobile telematics devices in India. The company has already asked its partners, including the third-largest information technology company, Foxconn to start manufacturing the products in India.

As per the Economic Times report, "Foxconn will start production of VoLTE handsets for Reliance Retail's Lyf brand of 4G smartphones in India." The rest of the devices by other vendors like Chinese and Taiwanese original device manufacturer (ODM) partners will also start the production shortly.

Foxconn or the RIL are yet to make any statement on the latest report.

Citing a person in the know of things, the report said that "It is a contract clause for these partners to locally make assemble their devices over a period of time. They have told everyone to do it.”
Considering the large user base the Reliance Jio is targeting, asking Foxconn and other partners to build the products with local sourcing will bring down the costs of these devices.

Apparently, after reaching close to its goal of gaining 100 million users base before March 2017, the company is also planning to provide other "services beyond mobile".

"Jio is now also planning to enter automobile telematics with the launch of a car connected device the telco has developed in-house," the same source told ET. The device is expected to provide WiFi and keep the users alert and informed about the fuel and battery through a mobile app. The device will also control the vehicle's movement.

RIL is reportedly in advanced talks with automobile companies. "The hardware device will be initially imported from China, but the vendor has been asked to start making it in India after the initial roll-out," the report said.

Jio is also planning to launch a complete suite for home surveillance, which will comprise a smart camera, smart doorbell, smart lock and chime alarm. Apart from that, the company is also reportedly scaling up its fibre to the home (FTTH) project to provide a plethora of services with the help of these products like HD TV and Video on Demand (VoD).