This is what Micromax and Intex are fighting with each other for!

Micromax and Intex are battling out their way fiercely for the no. 2 spot in the lucrative smartphone space in the world's fastest growing market.

Intex, at No. 3, cited third party data to show it has raced past Micromax in July and August, indicating that it will be the second largest handset vendor in India for the July-September quarter, and the largest local brand. This would upset the applecart of Micromax which has had an uninterrupted run in the slot for over two years now. Micromax though trashed Intex's claims, saying such data can't be trusted, and claimed a significant lead over Intex, with the gap even bigger in smartphones, but declined to share numbers. The market—which is poised to outpace the US as the world's second largest—is led by Korea's Samsung.

According to a report by analytics and import data tracking firm Cybex Exim Solutions, Intex's shipments — mports and local manufacturing — in July-August totalled 61.24 lakh units, higher than Micromax's 50.34 lakh units.

In the period, data showed that Intex had far outpaced Micromax in the lucrative smartphone category as well. Research agencies use Cybex data for their quarter end market share calculations. "Creating a new chronology in the telecom market, Intex has taken lead and surpassed all its major competitors vis-a-vis import shipments & local manufacturing (combined) for the past three months," Intex said in a statement.

Rejecting the data, Vineet Taneja, Chief Executive at Micromax, told ET it can't be trusted to provide an accurate view of the market share standings. "We're ahead in smartphones by a huge mile,” Taneja said. "Shipment data is murky because there's a lot coming now through SKD (semi-knocked down mobile phone units) route. How much of it is in the pipeline or lying in your factories, we don't know."

Imported SKD units are assembled into fully working units in local factories.

As per a source in Micromax, the vendor was ahead of Intex's shipments in July-August with 64.5 lakh units. Research agency Counterpoint Research backed Micromax's claims that the vendor was still ahead of Intex during July and August, though it estimated the gap between the two to have narrowed down by half during the July to September quarter, compared to the April to June quarter.

Taneja took a pot shot at Intex, saying, "People who advertise their numbers have a problem... it means that their numbers require to be advertised, rather to be talked about." He was referring to full page advertisements put out by Intex earlier this month proclaiming that their August shipments had crossed 3 million. Intex though stood by the Cybex data.

"We are confident of our pole position among Indian handset makers, which is firmly backed by reputed third party analysts' reports," Intex said. The rankings in the No. 3, 4 and 5 slots have been changing nearly every quarter, highlighting the intensity of the competition as operators fight thin margins, shorter lead times and new entrants, mainly from China, every other month. Companies track competition, market share and industry developments constantly.

"You have always got to be worried in this category, if not then sooner or later, you're dead," Taneja said. "But we're not complacent.

Nokia was very comfortable with 70% share, BlackBerry was comfortable because it was not important to open up their ecosystem. People who are not worried don't live long in this industry," he added. Samsung and Micromax have been holding on to the first and second spots for several quarters in the rapidly growing smartphone segment in India while Intex climbed up the ranks to become the No. 3 player in the quarter to December 2014.

This happened as more people in the sub-5,000 category moved to smartphones, a segment that Intex dominates.

Intex was not even in the top five players in the preceding months.

(Image credits: Indiatimes)