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Off recently, we have seen several Chinese original device makers (ODMs), who earlier used to make devices for Indian brands like <keyword id="71696" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Micromax">Micromax</keyword>, <keyword id="6355189" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="lava">Lava</keyword>, <keyword id="145729" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Karbonn">Karbonn</keyword> and <keyword id="6366627" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Intex">Intex</keyword> etc., trying their luck in the Indian mobile handset market. To keep the inflow going, another Chinese brand, named <keyword id="4760156" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="topwise-communication">TopWise Communication</keyword>, is all set to enter the world’s fastest growing mobile phone market. TopWise used to make a majority of Micromax's phones, and is now bringing its Comio brand to the market, possibly by mid-August. It has come with plans to invest Rs 500 crore in the next one year on local manufacturing, R&amp;D and marketing. Even though India’s mobile handset industry is growing at a rapid rate, over half of the market is ironically captured by Chinese brands like Xiaomi, <keyword id="1731609" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Oppo">Oppo</keyword>, <keyword id="215177" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vivo">Vivo</keyword> and <keyword id="13722" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Lenovo">Lenovo</keyword> who have pushed the Indian brands down to secure four out of top five leading names. For Comio, TopWise would initially launch four smartphone models in the Rs 6,000 to 12,000 range, with a target of selling 1 lakh units per month within a couple of years, as told by <keyword id="1703371" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sanjay-Kumar-Kalirona">Sanjay Kumar Kalirona</keyword>, CEO &amp; Director at Comio. "Comio will have company-owned sales team and service network and it will be hiring 200 people in the first year, of which 150 will be in sales," said Kalirona told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/chinas-top-wise-communication-to-enter-the-country/articleshow/59569019.cms">ET</a>. (Image source MobileScout)

Another Chinese brand about to enter India’s mobile handset market

The Indian government is planning to make the country a production hub for <keyword id="3414926" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="mobile-components">mobile components</keyword> and accessories in a phased manner and for this it is giving the required incentives to local manufacturing units. 
 
The incentives are expected to include change in duty structures in a phased manner. 
 
"There is a provision to manufacture a few accessories in the Union Budg2016-17. In the next three to four years' time, India will have a full-scale components manufacturing operational," Department of Electronics and IT additional secretary Ajay Kumar told ET. 
 
Presently, over 90 per cent of the mobile components are imported in the country from China and Taiwan. 
 
The government is mulling to shake up component-level manufacturing, which can dovetail into creating new opportunities. 
 This is also deemed important for PM Narendra Modi’s ‘<keyword id="6354869" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="make-in-India">Make in India</keyword>’ initiative. 
 
"A fine balance has to be created in the phased manufacturing program (PMP) to enable the final product assembly industry to fully blossom, so that it can attract the components industry vigorously," Pankaj Mohindroo, president of Indian Cellular Association, told ET. 
 
So far, the finance department has temporarily lowered import duty from 29.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent on accessories that include mobile chargers, adapters and headsets. 
 
"Other than the items notified by the government, we are hopeful that more accessories and components will be rolled out for domestic manufacturing in one to two years' time," Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, headmobile business, Intex Technologies, told ET.

India is inching towards becoming production hub for mobile components, plans incentives

The mobile handset makers have argued the decision of the telecom department, which announced mandatory GPS on all mobile phones, including feature phones, from January 2018. 
 
The mobile phone makers argue that the decision is not in the interest of people as adding GPS in feature phones will make the phones costly. 
 
Handset makers say the price of basic phones would go up by Rs 400 as the cheapest phone available in the market is for Rs 500. 
 
READ ALSO: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/FromJan-2017-women-in-distress-can-press-the-panic-button-on-their-mobile-phonesfor-immediate-help/articleshow/51990969.cms">From Jan 2017, women in distress can press the ‘panic button’ on their mobile phones for immediate help</a> 
 "Implementation of GPS in new mobile handset will not be in the interest of consumers at the bottom of the pyramid," ET quoted a letter from <keyword id="63784" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Cellular-Association">Indian Cellular Association</keyword> (ICA) president Pankaj Mohindroo to telecom secretary JS Deepak. 
 
Instead, Mohindroo has suggested A-GPS or Alternative GPS, which can also track mobile phone users in distress. 
 
Reportedly, the GPS component would cost up to Rs 66.7 and the required software would hike the overall cost to Rs 400. 
 
While numeric keys 5 and 9 were identified as push buttons for an emergency in feature phone handsets, in smartphones, handset manufacturers will have to provide an 'emergency' button or a facility to send an alert by short-pressing the power on/off button thrice in quick succession. 
 
Meanwhile, the handset makers are fine with the ‘panic button’, that will be mandatory in all phones from January 2017 as it would just require a software change, an easy task. 
 "We are already working on incorporating the panic button in our phones and should be able to meet the timelines prescribed by the ministry," Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, head-mobile business, <keyword id="6366627" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Intex">Intex</keyword> Technologies, told ET. 
 
(Images: Thinkstock)

Mobile phone makers say the GPS ruling is not in the interest of consumers. Here’s why

Global smartphone growth is set to lose some pace because of the economic slowdown in China, and India, which has emerged as the fastest growing market in the world and left China behind in the race of smartphone sales, can do little or nothing to help it. 
 
While India has surpassed China's pace of smartphone sales, it is still far from replacing the neighbour as the growth driver for the global handset industry, because of the comparatively smaller size of the Indian market, and the fact that majority of the user base is settler in rural areas, bringing in lower revenue. 
 
The fact that India still sells only as many phones in a year that China sells in a quarter is enough to hint at the vast difference in the sizes of two markets. Other than this, India's average selling price (ASP) of smartphones, which stands at $132, is almost half of that of China, and the chances of it growing soon are pretty dull because of, again, rural market using basic phones. 
 
Overall global smartphone sales have already dipped and will dip further to 7% on year in 2016 from 14% in 2015. The reason behind this fall is flat sales in China and North America, which is the second largest smartphone market. 
 
"Being an emerging market, there will always be a demand for feature phones and entry-level smartphones in India, whereas in China, majority market is replacement smartphones which have higher ASP," Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, head of mobile business at Intex Technologies told ET. 
 
"So, there will always be a gap between India and China in value terms, even if volumes were to be same," he added. 
 
The mere fact that India's largest home-grown player <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Micromax-to-enter-the-Chinese-mobile-market/articleshow/52571504.cms">Micromax wants to enter the China market</a> to ensure its smooth passage into world’s top-five players is enough to understand the importance of <keyword id="988382" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Chinese-smartphone-market">Chinese smartphone market</keyword> in the global scenario. 
 
<a href="http://static.digit.in/default/e8cf5bbf57b7fbb8716a5600393b1ab78e1e2c64.jpeg">Image source</a>

India is ahead of China in smartphone sales pace but can’t replace its role in global handset industry

The rule of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Samsung-still-no-1-in-India-Micromax-a-closesecond/articleshow/49643686.cms">Micromax</a> over the Indian smartphone market might end soon. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Intex-might-overtake-Micromax-in-smartphone-imports/articleshow/47498351.cms">Intex </a>defeated <keyword id="71696" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Micromax">Micromax</keyword> to become the leading domestic handset vendor in the country with 42.5% sequential growth in the third quarter, data from market research firm IDC revealed. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Samsung-heir-Jay-Y-Lee-takes-charge-of-foundations-in-succession-step/articleshow/47294049.cms">Samsung</a> continues to lead the overall market.
 According to IDC data, available to ET, <keyword id="6366627" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Intex">Intex</keyword> shipped 8,755,697 mobile handsets, including 5,699,300 feature and 3,056,397 smartphone units in the quarter. Micromax on the other hand shipped 8,613,296 mobile handsets, including 4,724,169 smartphone units. 

	"It is truly heartening to become the No. 1 Indian mobile handset company," Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, Business Head-Mobiles, Intex Technologies, told ET. 
 

	"We have consolidated our market position through enhancing our product portfolio with innovative devices and by expanding our retail presence across the country". 
 <keyword id="10591" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Samsung">Samsung</keyword> led the market by shipping a total of 15,982,197 mobile handsets during the quarter, which included 6,787,521 smartphone units. The Korean major also emerged as the biggest 4G player in India with its popular sub $150 LTE models, piping Chinese vendor Lenovo. 

	<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Micromax-Karbonn-Lava-and-Microsoft-have-unleashed-a-marketing-blitz-in-India/articleshow/48292804.cms">Lava</a> stood at the overall fourth spot with a total of 6,673,108 handsets shipped during the quarter, followed by <keyword id="145729" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Karbonn">Karbonn</keyword> with 4,911,314 units. The total shipments stood at 73,861,699 during the quarter, IDC data showed. 
	 
	(Image credits: Indiatimes)

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Another Chinese brand about to enter India’s mobile handset market

BI India Bureau

India is inching towards becoming production hub for mobile components, plans incentives

BI India Bureau

Mobile phone makers say the GPS ruling is not in the interest of consumers. Here’s why

BI India Bureau

India is ahead of China in smartphone sales pace but can’t replace its role in global handset industry

BI India Bureau

Intex becomes the No 1 domestic handset vendor in India

BI India Bureau

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