Changemakers 2024: Sunil Vachani and the Dixon Story

India wants to become a global manufacturing hub. Make in India, Aatmanirbhar Bharat and other slogans reflect this dream. There are a number of leaders who are pushing forward India’s manufacturing story. However, there is one business honcho who is more often than not below the media radar but is perhaps one of the most important entrepreneurs scripting a growth story: Dixon Technologies founder Sunil Vachani.

The Noida-based electronics manufacturing company is arguably the most crucial name in India’s electronics space. It is one of the biggest players in smartphone manufacturing, which has put India on the radar of global giants such as Samsung.

It all started in the early 1990s when the country was sloughing off its socialist past. With money borrowed from his father, Vachani set up an assembly unit for television sets. The journey from there was slow, but steady.

However, the promotion to the premier league took place only in 2016 when Vachani pivoted to mobile phone manufacturing. In a year where India’s overall exports contracted 3%, electronic goods exports rose 23.6% in the 2023–24, driven by mobiles.

Year of Hypergrowth

A look at the numbers tells the Dixon story. The end users of Dixon accounted for 40% of the domestic smartphone market in the first half of 2024. Its revenue from the mobile phone segment has risen from Rs 1,795 crore in the first quarter of the last financial year to Rs 9,444 crore in the recently concluded September quarter.

Posting 426% growth in revenue in such a short period is no mean task. And investors love it. Dixon’s share price has grown by 141% this year. The numbers are stacking up and more international players are taking notice of Dixon’s ever-expanding presence in the country. Some on social media have also given it the moniker “Foxconn of India”.

“What is playing out so well for them is the laser-eye focus on mobile manufacturing. Through their best-in class execution, they have been able to establish trust with global players,” says Manish Valecha, research analyst at Anand Rathi Institutional Equities.

Samsung, Motorola, Xiaomi and Realme among others, are some of its global clients. This exponential jump in mobile manufacturing on the back of support from government schemes like production-linked incentive schemes is helping it generate enough cash flow to now venture into different segments.

Dreaming Even Bigger

The vision of Vachani comes out in his public utterances. The insistence is always on the theme of Make in India and the importance of having a robust domestic supply chain. “As India looks to emerge as a hub in electronics manufacturing, it’s important to look at design in India along with make in India,” he said during his visit to IIT Madras Research Park earlier this year.

The 55-year-old founder is on a mission to bring global big names to India to help in building a robust high-tech manufacturing ecosystem. Dixon announced in November that the company would collaborate with Nokia to manufacture fixed broadband devices in the country.

To manufacture electronic hardware, it has incorporated a new subsidiary called Dixon Teletech. The stated objective of the move is to boost assembly of laptops, eyeing orders from top laptop brands like HP, Asus, Lenovo and Acer.

After scripting a rapid rise in mobile manufacturing, Vachani’s next target is to make his company an electronic conglomerate. Not only would it create value for shareholders but it would also help the India growth story.

Vachani took a lot of risks to get into manufacturing at a time when the services sector started taking off in the country post-liberalisation. Dixon started with a small unit in Noida. The founder and chairman can today boast of 23 manufacturing units across the country. And by all indications, the game is about to get bigger.

Valecha says that Vachani got the messaging of Dixon Tech right which helped the firm have a good 2024. “The thrust of the company is towards the theme of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. Aiding the message with investments in manufacturing creates good prospects for the company to expand in newer areas and unlock more value,” he says.

Vachani does not have a big presence on social media. He maintains a low profile but is seen at all the important forums with global players. Recently, he attended a meeting with German industry leaders in the presence of PM Narendra Modi which took place when Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the country.

Vachani’s 30-year-old mission of scripting the electronics story has finally gained momentum. He emphasised on the opportunity in his message to shareholders at the end of 2023–24: “At Dixon, we are at the right place and at the right time.”