With the Indian federal government doling out tax incentives to set up manufacturing facilities in the country, many electronics manufacturers have been doing just that over the past couple of years. While global electronics giants such as Samsung, LG and Sony had already been making many of their products in India, an overwhelming majority of smartphones sold in the country were still imported from China or Taiwan for the most part. However, not only is that changing in recent times, a new report now indicates exactly how much the situation has turned around over the past couple of years. According to CMR’s India Mobile Handset Report, two-thirds of all smartphones sold in the country in the first three months of this year were made in India.
The report states that 23.6 million smartphones were shipped in the country during the quarter, which represents a YoY growth of 21.4%, marking a stark contrast to the recent slowdown in the global smartphone market. Meanwhile, the feature phone market took yet another beating, declining 18.8% on a yearly basis. However, basic handsets continued to outsell smartphones, with 35.9 million feature phones sold in the country during the period in question. One interesting thing is that Indian smartphone brands have increased their combined market share to 45%, which is an all-time high for home-grown companies. Samsung Electronics continued to lead the market with a 28% share of all smartphones sold in the country, whereas Micromax Informatics managed to latch onto their number two spot with 16% share of the market ahead of Intex, who retained the third spot with 12% market share during the quarter.
There are a few other notable takeaways from the report as well, one of them being the increase in the average selling price of smartphones in the country. According to the report, the average selling price of smartphones in the fourth quarter of last year stood at Rs. 12,285 ($185) as against Rs. 10,364 ($155) in the first quarter of 2015. Unlike many other markets, carriers do not offer subsidies on smartphone purchases in the country, meaning people have to shell out the entire price of handsets upfront, which makes premium flagships comparatively less popular than in many other markets with the subsidy regime in place.
