Anti-China sentiments present opportune time for LAVA and other Indian Phone Manufacturers

The current market sentiments seem like the perfect opportunity in terms of consumer preferences for LAVA & MICROMAX to gain back their foothold in the smartphone market.

In 2014, Micromax had dethroned Samsung as the country’s top-selling brand. Even in 2015, Indian brands controlled 45% of the country’s smartphone market, with Chinese brands at only 9%, according to data from Counterpoint Research. Their failure to adapt to the advent of 4G, however, caused a stunning reversal in fortunes. Today, Micromax and Lava—the two biggest Indian brands—together account for only 0.4% of the smartphone market.

With the Chinese brands moving up the value chain as they look to drive margins up, Indian brands could move into the wallet-friendly sub-Rs 15,000 ($200) segment. “We plan to launch two models in July,” says Mugdh Rajit, Lava’s head for marketing, sales and distribution strategy. “Our main focus will be on the Rs 7,000-15,000 ($90-200) price band. We already have a good market share in feature phones and we can build on that to get a share from upgrading users.” Analysts, though, caution that upgrades will be slower than usual given that affordability at all levels have taken a hit.

Rajit believes that the company has the required infrastructure and is willing to make investments in marketing as well. At present, it boasts a network of 120,000 retailers across India. “It’s just the product piece that’s missing right now,” he says.

In May this year, the company announced a plan to shift its R&D, design and manufacturing from China to India, in the process investing Rs 800 crore.

With all the claimants to the Chinese brands’ dominance looking at a combination of local manufacturing and budget-friendly phones, the real winners from the anti-China smartphone wave could be customers and the government’s Make in India scheme.

Sandip Ginodia , Director

ALTIUS INVESTECH PVT LTD

We deal in over 60 unlisted companies with 15 years of experience .

For latest prices visit : www.abhisheksecurities.com/unlisted.htm / call : 09830271248 .

Email : ginodiasandip1@gmail.com

Comments

Reliance's JioMart is averaging half a million orders per day; WhatsApp driving growth

JioMart , Reliance's online-to-offline commerce platform that launched in May , has scaled up rapidly, riding on the pandemic-fuelled digital acceleration. The service, which went live in 200 cities across India, is currently processing an average of 500,000 orders per day. " We can go even higher on peak days", Jio Platforms CEO Kiran Thomas revealed at the Facebook for Fuel India 2020 event. He said, "JioMart is empowering millions of kiranas and small merchants through the simple and secure platform of WhatsApp, and linking them to Reliance Retail's pan-India supply chain. We expect to grow manifold in future, and are optimistic about enabling new cohorts of users and making it easier for them to shop for daily essentials." "Customers are transacting seamlessly on JioMart and the conversational nature of the service enabled by WhatsApp has made people adapt to it intuitively," he added. Reliance also stated that it will continue t

Stock broker SMC Global files for IPO

F inancial services company SMC Global Securities has filed draft red herring prospectus with SEBI for public issue of 1,58,67,380 equity shares of face value of Rs 2 each. The issue comprises a fresh issue of 79,33,690 equity shares by the company and an offer for sale of 79,33,690 shares by Millennium India Acquisition Company Inc. As of September 30, 2012, "We service our broking clients through a network of 43 branches and 2,521 registered sub-brokers and authorized persons spread in more than 500 cities and towns. We have also established an office in Dubai for brokerage and trading activities in that region," the company said. SMC has reported a loss of Rs 0.42 crore and total revenues of Rs 292.24 crore in the year ended March 31, 2012. "The proceeds of the fresh issue shall be utilised for margin maintenance with stock exchanges; part repayment of term loan; investments into subsidiary, SMC Comtrade; and general corporate purposes," according to p

Zomato, Swiggy score 1/10 on working conditions for their workers – ET Retail

Some of India's biggest startups have ranked near the bottom when it comes to working conditions for their gig workers , according to a report released Wednesday. While Swiggy , Zomato and Uber India scored 1/10, Urban Company and Flipkart’s logistics arm EKart scored the highest 8/10 and 7/10, respectively, ‘ Fairwork India Ratings 2020: Labour Standards in the Platform Economy’ showed . The report assessed the companies on five principles: fair play, fair conditions, fair contracts, fair management, and fair representation. Deepinder Goyal, chief executive officer of Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd., acknowledged the ratings on Twitter. “Zomato ranked at the bottom of 2020 Fairwork India scores. We knew we had things to work on, but we didn’t know that there is so much room for improvement.” The company takes full responsibility and “will leave no stone unturned to perform better in the rankings next year,” he added. Zomato received a 4/10 in last year's report. According t

Abhishek Securities

Search This Blog