Micromax Informatics Ltd., the biggest Indian smartphone vendor, has announced plans to become an integrated smart-devices and services company, amid rising Chinese competition that has already cost it significant market share in the world’s second-largest smartphone market.
Micromax will invest Rs. 300 crore to build three more factories, taking the total to four, and create 10,000 jobs by 2017. It will also invest in technology, product and content startups, the company said in a press release on Wednesday. The company wants to upstage market leader Samsung Electronics Co. to become the biggest smartphone vendor in India, and join the ranks of the “top 5” worldwide by 2020, it said.
By the end of 2017, Micromax aims to become an “complete services ecosystem” spanning a 100 million connected devices in the hands of consumers, Rahul Sharma, co-founder and CEO, said in the press release. The “ecosystem” refers to a host of connected services — from mobile payments to video streaming to online payments for offline purchases and vice versa, all centred around the smartphone.
The company has been buffeted by a multitude of challenges including two top executives leaving and a limited 4G handset portfolio at just the time when Chinese competitors such as Lenovo Group, Xiaomi and LeEco offered a range of affordable and premium 4G handsets alike, taking advantage of the very low entry barrier to the Indian market afforded by the rise of online commerce in the country.
Micromax aims to boost sales in categories such as LED televisions and tablets to become a “complete consumer electronics company,” co-founder Vikas Jain said in the release. On Wednesday, the company announced a slew of new devices, including smartphones, tablets and LED television sets. Its factories are being built in the states of Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Micromax was impacted by the entry of the Chinese brands in the mid-segment smartphone category, Tarun Pathak, senior analyst at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, told Forbes India in an email last month. While the Indian vendor still had an edge in offline distribution, the rapid rise of the online segment “led to sudden surge in competition that favoured the Chinese brands,” he said.
Even though Micromax has grown well in Russia — where it is now the number three handset vendor — India remains the biggest contributor to overall sales, Pathak pointed out. Counterpoint estimates show that Micromax’s overall mobile phone shipments in India were down 9 percent annually for the full year 2015 and smartphone shipments grew below the market average at a modest 6 percent annually, in a market which grew 23 percent.
Within the 4G segment, Micromax’s share was only 8 percent of all such handsets sold in India in 2015, estimates research firm IDC.
Chinese onslaught
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i Am Using The Micromax Handset Since 3 Year And Its Working Very Well I love This Brand Even My All Family Members Also use The Micromax brand Only...... But I just Want to say that U Just Need to improve Ur Service Which u Provide to Customer Otherwise Everything is Great...........And I Am Damn Sure that Before To 2020 micromax Brand will Be in top 5 Worldwide Company
on Aug 10, 2016