WORLD'S LARGEST PHONE FACTORY

Samsung open world's largest phone factory in India.

Mumbai : Samsung Electronics has formally opened a new factory in India, which the South Korean tech group says is the world's biggest mobile phone manufacturing plant, part of its plans to expand production in the  world's  fastest growing major mobile phone market.

The factory in Noida, on the outskirts on New Delhi, will allow Samsung to make phones at a lower cost due to its scale at a time when other phone making hubs such as China are getting more expensive, analysts tracking the sector said.

The factory, inaugurated jointly on Monday by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, will also help Samsung to compete more effectively with rivals such as  China's  Xiaome, which because India's biggest smartphone brand by shipments earlier this year.

"This 50 billion rupee investment will not only strengthen Samsung's business ties in India, it will also play a  key role  in India-Korea  relations," Modi said in a speech in Hindi at the inauguration of the plant.

Samsung said last year it would be spend 49.2 billion rupees ($716.57 million) over three years to  expand capacity at its Noida plant.

The new factory will help Samsung to double its current capacity for mobile phones in Noida for an annual 120 million units  after the phased expansion plan is complete,

India  the world's second biggest  smartphone  market and home  to more than a  billion wireless subscribers, is a big opportunity for Samsung where sluggish smartphone earnings  growth has fuelled concerns that its mobile business is running out of ideas to underpin sales of its premium Galaxy devices.

Samsung, which has been assembling phones in India since 2007, also plans to export India-made handsets.

"We  'Make in India',  'Make for India' and now, we will  'Make for the world, '"  H.C. Hong, Chief Executive Officer at Samsung India said in the statement. [Reuters]