The report notes that Google is considering opening "experience centers" in the country, where customers can try out the Pixel 2 phones. One anonymous source said that the company might roll out the stores in later 2018, while another source said the company had added a senior Apple executive to its retail plans. Apparently, Google has been happy with the interest people in the region have shown in several pop-up stores in malls like High Street Phoenix in Mumbai and Select Citywalk, Promenade, Mall of India in Delhi-NCR. The Economic Times also reports that two other "prominent" malls in india have seen requests to open Google retail space. "They got a flavor of how physical stores are also important because you can't explain many of the features online," a top mall executive told the site.

While Google hasn't confirmed the reports, setting up retail in India could help the company compete with Apple and Samsung, as well as Chinese-made phones from XIaomi, Vivo and Oppo, notes The Economic Times. We've reached out to Google for comment and will update this post when we hear back.