India’s Best CEOs 2025: Why Sunil Vachani Doesn’t Want to Take Dixon the Foxconn Way

IT’S PAST LUNCH HOUR at Dixon Technologies’ factory complex at Sector 68 in Noida, which is home to 14 of the company’s 24 manufacturing units. An overcast sky only accentuates the grey contours of the multi-storey unit. As we make our way through the lift to the shop floor, security guards scan us with handheld metal detectors before we’re escorted in by the floor supervisor. Inside the plant, it feels like a traditional factory built purely for precision and productivity: metal detectors, conveyor belts running like parallel highways, workers in anti-static coats bending over circuit boards, robotic arms moving with machine precision. On one side of the shop floor, digital dashboards track metrics in real time: yield rates, line efficiency, and component usage. That perfect synchronicity of humans and machines at scale is what has come to define the biggest Indian electronics manufacturing services company — invisible to consumers, yet omnipresent in their homes and hands. What was supposed to be an interaction at the factory — with the man behind the machines — is now taking place at The Oberoi in the heart of Delhi, as Sunil Vachani, the founder of Dixon, has a last-minute meeting in the corridors of power. Meeting policymakers may be out of the ordinary for other business leaders but for Vachani, the consultations go far beyond customary calls: they carry deep business implications. Over the years, Vachani has emerged as the poster boy of India’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, designed to kickstart manufacturing in a $4 trillion services-oriented economy. While Foxconn CEO and chairman Young Liu was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award, for propelling India’s industrial ambitions through Apple, the 56-year-old scion of Dixon has quietly carved out a place for himself as the silent protagonist of India’s electronics manufacturing story. On whether he is indeed inspired by the playbook of Foxconn, Vachani says firmly but softly. “I don’t know how this thing started [that Dixon wants to be the Foxconn of India]. So, I say, with full humility, we have a different business model. We have a different way of doing things. I want to be the Dixon of India, where someday Taiwan tells its startups: ‘You need to be the Dixon of Taiwan’.” It’s not arrogance, but clarity of thought. For Vachani, Foxconn represents a form of industrial might to admire but not imitate. If Foxconn’s empire runs on concentration, Vachani’s ₹38,860-crore empire runs on diversity (mobile phones, electronics, consumer appliances) and diffusion (over 100 clients across sub-categories). The real opportunity isn’t in going vertical but horizontal. “The world has changed. Electronics is no longer vertical, it now touches every aspect of life: automotive, defence, medical electronics. Why would I get into a brand when there’s so much growth across these verticals,” explains Vachani. He makes a case in point with Xiaomi, a client of Dixon, which has launched a car in China. “They said, ‘Our car is a mobile phone on wheels’. That means everything is electronics now.” About 20 years ago, Dixon’s dependence was on one product (LED televisions) at almost 90%. “We felt that in a country like India, where a single product market is not large enough and where we’re not globally competitive, it was too risky,” elaborates Vachani. As a result, diversification — washing machines, lighting, telecom, home appliances, refrigerators — became the mantra for growth. But the idea was that each would function like an independent company with full autonomy. “We’re clear that we want to be the leader in each category in terms of scale, capacity, and turnover.” Today, Dixon makes products for nearly every major electronics brand in India, yet its own name appears on none. “Foxconn has Sharp. They were into Nokia at one point; they bought into HMD. We decided that we will never be a brand and instead just focus on being the brand behind the brand. That’s literally our tagline,” explains Vachani. Over the years, Dixon’s evolution has been guided by the one idea: climb the value chain. “What we’re trying to do now is to evolve from a prescriptive manufacturer to an own design manufacturer (ODM). So, in categories such as refrigerators, washing machines, and lighting, we’re designing our own products,” says Vachani. The move ensures better financial outcomes. “If you see our numbers, our Ebitda margins are much higher when we design our products,” he says. In many cases, Dixon co-develops products with clients in what’s called joint design manufacturing (JDM). “They give inputs, we develop. It’s collaborative. But the idea is to move more towards original design,” says Vachani. In FY25, the ODM share of revenue within the consumer electronics and appliances segment went up to 56% (61% in Q4FY25) from 34% in FY24, aided by a significant rise in capital employed at ₹685 crore. While the move entailed heavy investment, which lowered returns with RoCE falling from 54% in the segment to 23%, it does set the foundation for higher margin-, design-driven growth in the coming years. Inside Dixon’s boardroom, diversification isn’t a slogan but a doctrine. No single vertical contributes to an outsized share of revenue. “Of course, mobile phones have become the largest pie,” admits Vachani. But that’s also because the market itself is so large at $50 billion out of a total $130-150 billion electronics market. Even so, customer concentration is watched like a hawk. “We’ve ensured no single customer accounts for a large part of our Ebitda margins,” he says. Exports currently make up just 7-8% of revenue but that will change. “As we grow exports, we’ll be mindful not to depend on one geography,” he adds. “The last few years have taught everyone that don’t focus on a single region.” If there’s one thing Vachani respects deeply about Chinese manufacturers, it is their scale and creating a comfortable and stable environment for workers. “In India, a typical factory worker travels more than an hour or more to reach the factory, works overtime, gets back home late and still has managed [only] basic needs... that’s a bit stressful,” he says. What Dixon wants to do is work with state support. “We’re working with state governments so that when they allocate land, they also allow us to build worker accommodations on the same campus,” explains Vachani. In fact, in some states such as Tamil Nadu, where Dixon has a presence, it is already constructing dormitories for workers at the government’s cost. The new Dixon mega campus in North India — about 35–50 acres — will integrate that idea. “It’s not there yet,” he clarifies. “But in the new sites, we’re planning to include worker accommodation. These are migrant workers, and housing affects disposable income, health, and stability,” reveals Vachani. If workers are looked after, he adds, everything else improves. “We’ve seen that if you provide the right environment to an Indian operator, he can be as efficient as anywhere in the world.” For a long time, India’s growth story was powered by services — IT, outsourcing, consulting. But Vachani believes manufacturing must now take its rightful place. “There are two schools of thought,” he says. “One says, why focus on manufacturing? Just double down on services such as tourism, back-office work, law, IT. The other says, do both. I belong to that second camp.” His reasoning is blunt: no country in history has gone straight from agrarian to services. “We can’t try something that’s never happened before,” reasons Vachani. He also sees a geopolitical opportunity. “Right now, the world is looking for an alternative to our northern neighbour, and India has everything: manpower, market, design capability, and supportive policies,” says Vachani. While a lot has been spoken about the dearth of skilled labour in India, Vachani narrates an experience to counter that narrative. “We opened a skill centre in Jharkhand. At five in the morning, 500 people landed up waiting to be trained. People want jobs — manufacturing jobs,” says Vachani. That, he says, is the foundation of India’s next leap to semiconductors, and components, which have become strategic national assets. “The next wars will be fought on semiconductor strength. We have to build that,” says Vachani. When Dixon went public in 2017, it raised ₹600 crore — of which only ₹60 crore went into the company. “We’re the only EMS company that’s raised money only once during our IPO,” says Vachani, though he mentions that the company’s annual capex spend is ₹600–700 crore and in the component scheme, it has committed ₹3,000 crore. “We’re reinvesting surpluses instead of raising new money every two years,” explains Vachani. Shareholders, he says, understand that philosophy. “Dividends may be modest, but when your RoCE is 40%, investors are happy.” As for Dixon’s high valuation? “People say the stock is expensive,” he smiles. “I tell them, good things in life don’t come cheap. You have to pay a premium for quality. But, more seriously, we are being valued for our governance, execution, and strategy.” Dixon’s credibility with government and clients rests on one thing: flawless execution. The company has been part of five PLI schemes and in each one of the schemes, it has met every commitment: investment, turnover, employment, value addition. Factories were built in record time. Incentives were earned, not chased. “We’ve been the first company off the block in each category, whether mobile phones or IT hardware,” says Vachani. That speed and efficiency is what Dixon sees as the big difference between India and other Southeast Asian nations. “When we get into display modules, camera modules, and mechanicals, we’ll have 40% value addition in mobile phones. Vietnam took 20-30 years to get there. We’re doing it in six,” says Vachani. It’s the same counterintuitive playbook that’s guided him from the start. As our conversation winds down, I ask him about his favourite electronics brands. “If your question is which products I use,” he says with a half-smile, “I’ve been using Apple products. The thing is, when you use an Apple product, you become part of an ecosystem with the laptop, phone, and watch. Getting out of that ecosystem is impossible.” That’s precisely what Dixon is on the path to replicate: If Apple showcased the brand power of design and seamless consumer tech, Dixon wants to do something similar, but while staying invisible.

India’s Best CEOs 2025: Why Sunil Vachani Doesn’t Want to Take Dixon the Foxconn Way

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