Ratan Tata, the chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, has become the first Indian investor in leading Unicorn Xiaomi Inc.

The size of the investment was not disclosed.

Tata Sons might not be a well-known name outside of the sub-continent, but if you think of a company like Hyundai or Samsung in South Korea, a huge conglomerate with its fingers in many different types of businesses, that’s Tata in India.

At last count Tata Sons owned over 100 different businesses in seven verticals: It communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products (including cars) and chemicals.

Since stepping down as Chairman in 2012, Ratan Tata has become an active investor in Indian e-commerce start-ups, and Xiaomi is his first investment in China.

“Mr 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,” Xiaomi Founder and Chief Executive Office Lei Jun said in a statement.

Xiaomi has been pushing into India in a big way, from the launch of its Mi 3 model, which was reported to have sold over one million units in 5 months, through to the launch of its Mi 4i model last week.

India, although a laggard in terms of rapidly developing middle class compared to China in past years, has none the less started to thrive as successive Government’s have thrown off the economic shackles that crippled growth in India for decades due to socialist Government rule. In February India passed China as the world’s fastest growing economy, and with a population of 1.25 billion (China has a population of 1.36 billion) the potential to sell well priced, and yet well-specked smartphones is staggering.

Xiaomi last raised $1 billion on a $45 billion valuation back in December 2014 and is still regarded as the world’s highest valued Unicorn.

Image credit: Tata Sons.