Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Xiaomi is planning to invest a further $500 million into operations in India after experiencing success in the country in 2016.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun stated that this investment would be put into the country over the next three to five years. He also expects revenues in India to increase to $2 billion in 2017.

This is double the revenues it generated in India in 2016. Jun also stated that a large proportion of this revenue was generated from its 10 million users on its apps, as well as hardware sales.

Never as bad as it seems

"We faced many challenges. Many negative reports about us," said Jun. "But it was never as bad as it was made out to be. We have gone back to healthy growth. We will resume rapid growth in the next two years."

India is a major market for Xiaomi, but it is not necessarily its largest. The company is targeting $14.47 billion in sales for 2017 overall, so its predicted India sales make up about 13% of its overall target.

The company is already making great strides to expand its India operations through 2017. Most recently, it opened its second manufacturing plant in the country, increasing production capabilities to one phone every operating hour.