India, Sept. 21 -- In a bid to capitalise on the manufacturing boom in India, smartphone manufacturer Nothing is spinning off its sub-brand CMF to operate as an independent Indian company.

Disclosing the news via a social media post, cofounder and CEO Carl Pei said that CMF will now operate as a standalone Indian company, majority Indian owned and headquartered in the country. Nothing will keep a stake in CMF and stay as its partner.

"India has the manufacturing base, a market absorbing over 150 Mn smartphones a year, and a government determined to make the country a global export hub. What it lacks is the brand to drive the engineering demand," the post read.

The move, as per Pei, is aimed at building the engineering capabilities need...