Indian mobile handset market grew 14.7 per cent in FY13

The mobile handset market in India grew 14.7 per cent to Rs35,946 crore in the financial year 2012-13 from levels around Rs31,330 crore a year ago, mainly on a rise in smart phone uptake.

The biggest surprise of the year was Korean electronics-maker Samsung dethroning Nokia from the top position. The Finnish handset-maker had been holding the fort for over a decade, according to the 18th annual 'V&D 100' survey.

The survey covered more than 30 mobile handset companies across categories such as feature phones, multimedia phones, enterprise phones and smart phones. Both multi-national and Indian mobile phone firms were surveyed for this report.

Samsung's rise in the Indian market is attributed to its rich product portfolio that was able to cater to customers of all budget categories. Samsung's handset prices range from Rs1,500-Rs50,000 and come in varied screen sizes. These two factors besides product quality and new features helped the company grab customer's attention.

Samsung ended the year with revenues of Rs11,328 crore compared with Rs7,891 crore in FY12, posting a 43.6 per cent growth. The company also became the market leader with 31.5 per cent market share.

The former market leader in the Indian mobile phone market Nokia dropped a rank to be placed at number two in the survey with 27.2 per cent market share. The company recorded an 18 per cent drop in revenues.

In the 12 months ended March 2013, Nokia's revenues from Indian operations were placed at Rs9,780 crore, compared with Rs11,925 crore in FY12. The revenue loss has been staring at Nokia worldwide in view of a few strategic missteps.

Nokia's drop in market share started when the company failed to sense the need of a dual-SIM phone for the Indian consumer, and the same was tapped by the Indian players years ahead of global players like Nokia.

On a global ground, not embracing the most popular and most accepted operating system – Android - for its smart phones, gives its potential customers very little choice.

Nokia's Lumia series phones that witnessed huge growth globally in the initial phases could not draw much attention in India.

"The rise of smaller local players such as Micromax, Karbon, Lava and Zen is a clear indication that consumers want cheaper feature rich phones. The next phase of mobile penetration in the bottom of the pyramid India will be driven by these companies,'' said Ibrahim Ahmad, Group Editor of Voice&Data.

Homegrown handset company Micromax captured the number third position among V&D100 Top10 mobile handset brands for the year 2013. Though it performed pretty badly in FY12 and the first quarter of FY13, through some smart thinking and innovative products, the Gurgaon-headquartered phone maker grew by 58.6 per cent. By the end of the last fiscal, the company posted revenues of Rs3,138 crore (Rs1,978 crore in FY12). Micromax now enjoys an 8.7 per cent market share in India.

Closing in next is Karbonn Mobiles, the company that grew most consistently among Indian handset players. In FY13, Karbonn grew 73.1 per cent to register revenues of Rs2,297 crore (Rs1,327 crore in FY12). In FY13 Karbonn grew by 32 per cent.

Karbonn captured a 6.4 per cent market share and is placed at number four position in the table. Last year it was at number five.

The iconic Apple grew at a stupendous 417.2 per cent to post revenues of Rs1,293 crore in FY13 (Rs250 crore a year back). Though India was never a focus market for the Cupertino-based smart device maker till Steve Jobs' era, in the last two years Apple has started making inroads, though slowly.

In the last fiscal, the company made some disruptive changes in its sales strategy which paid off. Appointing Ingram Micro and Redington as the national distributors for sales and offering EMI schemes to the consumers to buy the most coveted Apple product changed the game for them. The company now enjoys 3.6 per cent market share in India with the smallest number of handset models in its portfolio.