Xiaomi in China has already launched electric bikes, including models that are foldable, bicycles and electric scooters.
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, once billed as the world's most valuable startup, has made a regulatory filing in India saying its expansion roadmap in the country includes plans to sell electric vehicles and entering the payments bank business.
According to Xiaomi's filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), a copy of which is with ET, the Beijing-based company said it can potentially sell "all types of vehicles for transport, conveyance and other transport equipment, whether based on electricity or any other motive or mechanical power, including the components, spare parts".
Xiaomi is also open to venturing into other areas. In its filing, the company said it wants "to carry on the business of nonbanking financial companies, payments bank, leasing and financing, other financial services, payment gateway and settlement systems operators, mobile virtual network operators".
Other products the company is looking to sell in India include laptops, gaming consoles, computer accessories, lifestyle products and network equipment. It also wants to potentially manufacture and sell its merchandise such as clothes, toys, backpacks and suitcases.
The filing comes amid media reports that Xiaomi plans an initial share sale next year, taking the company's valuation past $50 billion and helping raise cash for strengthening its position in the Indian consumer market among other things.
Xiaomi in China has already launched electric bikes, including models that are foldable, bicycles and electric scooters. It also sells laptops, tablets, televisions, smart lighting solutions and health products such as electric toothbrushes and blood-pressure monitors.
It also makes appliances such as washing machines, refrigerators, air-conditioners, vacuum cleaners and water purifiers. Xiaomi's range of lifestyle products include apparel, toys, shoes, bags and luggage, bedding, bath, kitchen and dining products.
Xiaomi Technology India has accordingly amended its memorandum of association for doing business in these categories. The company has said in the filing that it may sell these products through both online and offline channels in India.
A Xiaomi India spokesman said that the regulatory filings only indicate a change in the objects clause of the memorandum of association to detail any product that the company might choose to launch and sell in India in the future.
"We have expressed our interest to bring several of our nonsmartphone products to India multiple times, but only after ensuring that we have picked the right product and customised it to India's needs," he said.
The move could allow it to enter areas beyond smartphones with wider margins as it has in China, said Tarun Pathak, associate director at Hong Kong-based researcher Counterpoint Research.
"Since they have built the brand successfully in India, Xiaomi has equal opportunities for success here in products beyond smartphones," said Pathak, who closely follows Xiaomi. "For instance, it is already among the top two-three brands in smart watches and power banks. This is the reason it is focusing so much on launching its own brand stores — called Mi Home — since they would be potential areas from where it can sell these products."
