Sunil Vachani and Family

Dixon Technologies manufactures products for Samsung, Xiaomi and Panasonic without building a brand of its own. The business model is simpler than it sounds and harder than it looks.

Sunil Vachani turned a small television assembly operation started in 1993 into Dixon Technologies, one of India's largest electronics manufacturing services companies. Dixon manufactures televisions, smartphones, washing machines, LED lighting and security systems for brands that have chosen to outsource production in India rather than build or maintain their own factories. The business model requires sustained investment in production capacity, quality certifications and supply chain management without the marketing expenditure and pricing power that come with owning a brand.

Dixon has been a significant beneficiary of the Production Linked Incentive schemes the Indian government introduced to encourage domestic electronics manufacturing, and the company's revenue and employment have grown substantially since those incentives were introduced. The next generation, Prithvi and Karishma Vachani, are active in the business. The broader strategic question Dixon faces is how to maintain cost competitiveness against manufacturing alternatives in Vietnam and other countries while India's labour and infrastructure costs rise, a challenge the entire Indian electronics manufacturing sector is navigating together.