Mumbai, April 26: Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, has acquired a minority stake in Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi.

Xiaomi did not disclose the amount or the value of the stake picked up by Tata in his personal capacity.

This is the first stake purchase by any Indian in the company. In December, Xiaomi had raised over $1 billion, valuing the company at $45 billion.

"India is our biggest market outside mainland China and also an extremely important one. Our goal is to become No. 1 in the next 3-5 years and we are keen on partnerships here. Tata is one of the most well-respected business leaders in the world. An investment by him is an affirmation of the strategy we have undertaken in India so far. This is just the start of an exciting journey, and we are looking forward to bringing more products into India," Xiaomi chief executive officer Lei Jun said.

On the development, Xiaomi India head Manu Jain said the company would take Tata's guidance on becoming an Indian company.

Xiaomi, which entered India in July 2014, has been growing at a scorching pace. The importance of the country in the company's growth strategy can be gauged from the recent launch of the Mi 4i handset at Rs 12,999. It is Xiaomi's first release outside China.

The company, which is among the top five players in India, plans to begin production in the country within the next 12-18 months.

Tata, who retired as the head of over $100-billion conglomerate in December 2012, has emerged as a major venture capital investor since then.

He has already made personal investments in homegrown e-commerce players such as Snapdeal, Urban Ladder, Bluestone and Cardekho.Com. In March this year, he also invested in mobile commerce company Paytm.

Recently, mobile operating system player Cyanogen Inc announced the completion of an $80-million round of Series C financing, which was led by Premji Invest - the private investment arm of Wipro chairman Azim Premji.

Premji also has investments in Myntra and Snapdeal, while Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy (through Catamaran Ventures) started a joint venture with Amazon to help small and medium businesses come online.