Chinese Smartphones Grow By whopping 340% In India, Indian Brands Have Only 14% Market Share!

The onslaught of Chinese smartphone brands in Indian market is refusing to subside. As per a recent report by India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), it was discovered that China is now commanding impressive 51% share of the market.

And, this incredible market grab has resulted in massive 340% growth in their expansion during Q1 of 2017. In layman terms, this means that in the last one year, Chinese smartphone companies have trebled their market share in India.

Indian smartphone brands are now limited to just 14% of the market, which, according to analysts, will drop down even further.

The report observed that Samsung is still the market leader in this segment, commanding 28% market share, meanwhile Oppo and Vivo India have registered 7 to 9 times more sales during Q1 of 2017, compared to last quarter.

Indian smartphone companies such as Micromax, Lava and Karbonn have now been replaced by Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo, in the top 5 ranking.

As per the report, 51% of the smartphone market is now dominated by Chinese brands, 28% is being dominated by Samsung alone, 14% market share is limited to Indian brands, and 7% belongs to other brands, mainly Apple from the USA.

Reasons Why Chinese Brands Are Dominated, Indian Market

As per the report, Chinese smartphone companies have a distinctive advantage over other Indian brands, and this is helping them to garner more market share.

Chinese brands are able to spend more on advertisements, events, marketing due to their backing of sponsors and venture capitalists, who are pushing for better sales channel building across India – mainly Tier? cities and e-commerce portals.

Chinese brands are enjoying better debt-light capital and ‘healthy liquidity’, due to long payable period approved by the investors, which is providing them with a free hand to spend crores on advertisements, and to create a brand before Indian buyers.

The report also mentions better technology and features provided by Chinese brands, compared to Indian smartphone companies. The report observes that Indian brands are not able to upgrade themselves and offer world-class technology and interface, which Chinese firms are consistently doing.

And lastly, under Make in India campaign, Chinese brands are now manufacturing right inside India, thereby saving a lot of money on imports as well, which is driving down the prices, and helping them to generate more revenues.

It would be interesting to observe now, how Indian brands are able to sustain growth and beat the Chinese. We will keep you updated.