In the past few years, India has been one of the world’s largest smartphone markets and is in the second position in the world by market size. India has taken over the US and is next to China in this industry. The number of mobiles in the country has increased drastically over the years from 360 million in 2016 to anywhere around 780 million, which is more than doubt of it expected in 2021 according to statistics. This market has always seen the aggressive launch of new big-branded smartphones which very attractive offers and advanced features that attract most of the young Indian population.

If India grows at the same pace it is expected to take over even the world’s largest mobile market, China. The Indian market had had many mobile brands, both big and small, some have survived the tough competition while some have failed to advance with time and meeting the people’s expectations. The big brands with the highest number of sales have often been mobile manufacturers from China and the US, but there are some Indian mobile brands, which were significantly successful for some period.

Foreign mobile brands in the Indian market

It is a well-known fact that most esteemed mobile brands don’t manufacture their mobiles in India but in countries like the US, China, Japan, South Korea. These brands earlier used to export their smartphones to India completely assembled, but in recent years these foreign companies have set up the mobile assembly branches within India itself, which is quite profitable to India, as the import duty decreases when the products imported are unassembled. This was profitable to both the brand and the Indian customers.

However, due to the recent clash that has taken place between China and India, Indians are inclining towards buying only Indian products as emphasized by the Indian government. This has led to many big companies like Realme claiming to manufacture mobiles in their Indian plant using a high percentage of components from India about 50 percent by the coming year.

So, are there not some good Indian mobile brands? And if there are why are they not as successful as the foreign brands?

Old Indian Manufacturers

The answer to this cannot be given by simply saying yes or no because there are certain facts that we must consider before coming to any conclusion. We do remember old Indian mobile companies which did fairly well in the sales and were earning huge profits. But the reality is that these brands mostly followed a similar model, which was buying the smartphones from China and selling them at reasonable rates, changing the brand name. This did earn them huge profits but did not work for a long time causing their declination, as the company started selling their phones with their brand names at affordable rates.

Scope for Indian Brands

When it comes to 100% Indian manufactured smartphones, there are many things to be considered such as scarce availability of resources and key components. So, it is practically not possible to manufacture smartphones and sell in bulk within India overnight. It does require more research and critical study of designs and features. Thus, if this prerequisite is fulfilled, there is surely a possibility of emerging new Indian brands which can give tough competition to foreign brands, which is possible only with the support of the people and government.

Hope you found this article helpful.