Micromax to go global and upmarket

Micromax, India's No 2 smartphone brand which started just five years back, selling its first handset, a $30 made-in-China model is pushing plans to go upmarket and overseas, Reuters reported today.

With the 6.8 million phones, it sold in the July-September quarter including 2.2 million smartphones, the unlisted company is on track to surpass $1 billion in sales in the fiscal year ending in March, according to the report.

The company's Android based phones starting at $50 -- almost half the price of a comparable Samsung model, have brought smartphone technology to the masses in a largely price sensitive market where basic handsets still dominated.

In overall phone sales, Micromax ranks third in the country, after Nokia and Samsung.

The company, which started out selling IT software and telecoms gear, gained entry to the handset market with cheap phones featuring bigger screens, and the capability to use two SIM cards so customers could take advantage of bargains from competing carriers -- a feature Nokia was slow to match.

The company now aims to broaden its market with offerings for brand-conscious Indians with more spending power. It moved into the premium segment with a Rs19,000 ($310) phablet featuring a 5-inch screen promoted by "Wolverine" star Hugh Jackman.

In January, Micromax would start selling in Russia, followed by Romania, where competitors also include Samsung and Nokia.

The company had also forayed into Brazilian and the Middle Eastern markets with basic phones, but could not build scale and had to close the operations.

According to industry watchers, Micromax, backed by private equity firms TA Associates and Sequoia Capital, has its work cut out as it pushes into pricier segments dominated by global brands and builds its brand from scratch in new markets.

According to commentators, with mobile internet prices in India starting to fall, the smartphone market had taken off, with Micromax and other local vendors of low-cost China and Taiwan-made phones such as Karbonn and Lava pushing hard into small towns.