Reliance Jio in talks with Xiaomi for exclusive rights to sell their TVs, smartphones

Reliance Jio Infocomm is in talks with Chinese electronics giant, Xiaomi, to enter a mutually-beneficial partnership, like they have with Apple Inc. Reliance Jio and Xiaomi are in discussion over a deal wherein Reliance Jio would sell the Chinese giant's television and smartphones exclusively on the Jio retail network and the Reliance Digital chain of stores.

Xiaomi is also planning to bring more products into the Indian market and have applied for approvals from appropriate approvals. The company also plans to enter the B2B segment in the service space.

According to a report in The Economic Times, the proposed deal comes after Xiaomi India made a regulatory filing announcing its plans to enter segments beyond smartphones, including the B2B market.

An executive said that Xiaomi and Reliance Jio senior officials have met several times in the last few weeks to talk about the deal.

Reliance Jio is also considering Xiaomi for the exclusive launch of its smart television, which will be pushed off at a great price, another executive said. The companies wish their partnership to also extend into exclusive smartphone models.

With or without this deal, Xiaomi already dominates a great part of the Indian smartphone market. It is even a little ahead of Samsung, with 8.2 million units of smartphones shipments, while Samsung commands over 7.3 million.