FIH Mobile's new handset plant in Maharashtra, India will kick off production in the second half of 2016, one year after commencing operations of its plant in Andhra Pradesh.

The plants in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are set up to cope with the India's government policy of promoting "Made in India" for handset production, FIH Mobile said.

With local production, FIH Mobile has also helped a number of China-based smartphone vendors promote sales in India, with some vendors also likely to ship their entry-level smartphones from India to other markets in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Europe in the coming quarters.

FIH Mobile posted revenues of US$2.306 billion in the first half of 2016, down 39.7% from a year earlier. Net profits declined 83.4% on year to US$21.44 million in the first half, which translated into an EPS of US$0.0028 compared to US$0.0168 a year ago.