Huawei's sub-brand Honor pulls out of India as govt toughens its stand on Chinese smartphone brands

New Delhi: As India toughens its stand on Chinese smartphone brands, Shenzhen-based Honor, formerly under Huawei, has pulled out its team from the country. According to South China Morning Post, the company's business in India will remain in operation, managed by local partners, but the brand will adopt a "very safe approach."Honor CEO Zhao Ming told the state-run newspaper Securities Times that Honor formed the India team a few years ago but chose to leave for "obvious reasons".

The development came as Indian authorities like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) have conducted raids and investigations of major Chinese smartphone players like Vivo, OPPO, and Xiaomi. Honor once held a 3 percent market share in India during its peak in 2018 but fell out after the US put sanctions against Huawei. (Also Read: Zomato shares fall to their lowest levels as lock in period ends)

Struggling to keep its consumer business afloat in the wake of the US sanctions, Chinese conglomerate Huawei in November sold off its Honor smartphone business assets to China-based Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co Ltd. Honor smartphones were hit by US sanctions that prevent Huawei from doing business with the US companies. (Also Read: Domino's Pizza delivery won’t be available on Zomato and Swiggy? Here is what you need to know)

Since its creation in 2013, the Honor brand has focused on the youth market by offering phones in the low- to mid-end price range. In the next seven years, Honor developed into a smartphone brand that shipped over 70 million units annually.

In India, Honor had entered the laptop market and expanded its wearables portfolio in the country.