Foxconn’s India arm stepped up its local manufacturing efforts by starting the assembly of printed circuit boards (PCBs), which will likely benefit clients such as Chinese phone company Xiaomi and HMD Global , the makers of Nokia devices, as it will give them a price advantage over rivals that have to pay duty on imported PCBs, widely expected to be levied from April.PCBs make up about 50% of the cost of making a phone. South Korea’s Samsung is among the only major brand that assembles PCBs in India.“They (Foxconn) have begun assembling PCBs in India,” said a person with knowledge of the development. Foxconn ’s move is a boost for Make in India . India had raised basic customs duty (BCD) on smartphones to 20% in the Union Budget from 15% earlier, which became effective February 1. Import duties have acted as a catalyst for the establishment of nearly 120 mobile phone manufacturing companies since 2014. However, many of these were assembling handsets at less than 10% value addition.Local Value Addition to RiseWith PCB assembly and manufacturing of some other components, local value addition is set to rise to 15%, ??analysts at Counterpoint Research said. Foxconn Technology Group said it “follows a strict company policy of not commenting on any matters related to current or potential customers, or any of their products.”The world’s largest contract manufacturer, also the biggest contract manufacturer for phones in India, has acquired machinery that enables surface mounting on PCBs from the now-defunct Nokia plant in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai The company currently has a phone manufacturing facility at Sri City, Andhra Pradesh , located on the border with Tamil Nadu, employing about 6,000 people to produce more than 15 million phones a year for companies such as Xiaomi, HMD Global, which makes Nokia-branded phones, and Gionee.“Companies like Xiaomi and HMD Global will benefit, as they won't have to increase prices, while others who will continue to import PCBs will have to raise prices of mobile phones,” said Navkendar Singh, research director at International Data Corporation (IDC) India.Xiaomi may be able to sell a model for less than Rs 5,000 since it has volumes and the saving on local assembly will give it greater margins for marketing and distribution, making it a stronger player, Singh said. This is critical in a price-sensitive market like India, where most smartphones are sold in the under-` 0,000 band.Xiaomi, which recently replaced Samsung as the country’s No 1 smartphone maker by shipments, declined to comment. HMD Global didn’t respond to ET’s queries.Ajey Mehta, head of India operations at HMD Global, had told ET earlier that the company was working with its partners to manufacture more components in India. “SMT is definitely on the card for us,” he said. SMT, or surface mounting technology, lines are used for assembling PCBs.