By Indrajit Ghosh – Director, India and South Asia, DisplaySearch
The size of the Indian cellular handset market has given birth to strong regional Indian brands. They are mainly “price fighter” models and the style is simple with the handsets manufactured in China or Taiwan and then shipped to India. In many cases, the Indian brands simply leverage their logistics strength.
Most of these brands have an established distribution network and are already operating in the same space as distributors, retail chain store owners, or allied products like IT peripherals. It is said that their combined sales have grown six fold to 6.4 million through June 2009, which is bigger than the sales of LG branded mobile phones in India.
The brands that are charting a national footprint aggressively are Lava, Karbon, Intex and the in-house brand of Mobile Store, a retail chain group that markets mobile and cellular products through their stores all over India.
Most of these brands do not see themselves as mere shippers of cellular phones, as they claim to have their own R&D, and they say that multinationals are sourcing from their overseas subsidiaries in China and Taiwan, which is similar to their model of business.
Growth is substantial as these companies operate at the lower end of the price bracket, which is booming. The recent clampdown on the China white brands without IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers also helped, as these companies are directly addressing the segment of customers who were buying the low-priced sets without IMEI numbers.
Multinational players need to watch out as these nimble players chip at their shares. However, Indian players also need to guard their turf as they can face global competition, which may threaten their dominance in low-end sets. Chinese handset maker ZTE (who has worldwide collaboration with Vodafone for handsets) has entered India recently with the appointment of a national distributor. This could increase the competition once ZTE starts reaching out to the interiors. For now we must wait and see who will be the master of the game.
