Ratan Tata, the Indian industrialist, has invested an undisclosed sum in China’s biggest smartphone maker, Xiaomi, giving a boost to the company’s Indian expansion plans.
“India is our biggest market outside of mainland China and also an extremely important one. Our goal is to become number one in the next three to five years and we are keen on partnerships here,” said Bin Lin, Xiaomi co-founder and president, in a statement.
Since his retirement in 2012 as chairman of industrial conglomerate the Tata group, Mr Tata has become an active venture investor in Indian e-commerce start-ups. Mr Tata, whose current title is chairman emeritus of Tata, made the investment with his personal wealth and the stake will be held independent of the group.