LeEco to focus on TV business, not exit India: VP Alex Li

Chinese electronics manufacturer LeEco will not move out of India but will focus on its TV business along with a new strategy to manage operations as the company goes through a cash crunch, the company's vice-president and India COO Alex Li said.

"We will not exit India but work out a smart strategy to manage operations in India. We will be cautious with our investments for now," Li told HT.

Li also said he believes the company will grow faster in its TV business rather than mobiles as the India smart TV market is expected to boom with a market size of 1 million.

"We will focus on smart TVs only and look at ways to solidify our existing customer base," Li said, adding that the company was looking to invest in a new asset in the new IT development region coming up in Pali, Rajasthan.

Earlier, LeEco founder Jia Yueting had said that the company was going through a cash crunch period due to rapid expansion in different business. Reports also claim that the LeEco India unit staff was cut down by Arles at 80%.

However all is not well with the company and it seems to be slowly moving away from some announcements it made when it launched in India.

"Our content development plans have been scaled down now with only a small team operating from Mumbai. We will look to partner more now," Li said adding that its partnership with Eros Now will also continue soon.

Eros Now recently stopped providing content to LeEco on its smartphones. Li said he has a meeting with Eros on Monday where he will look to address all the concerns.

The group VP also said that the company will look to earn revenue from accessories from its online LeMall store.

Also, Li said that electric cars will come in 2017 and the company will not open single brand retail stores in the same year as well.

However, he said that the company will take the TV business offline to boost sales. According to the company, LeEco had a turnover of ₹1400 crores by selling at least 1.25 million phones and 12,000 smart TVs.