Samsung beats Nokia to emerge No.1 in India: Report

Buoyed by high demand for smartphones, the mobile handset market in India is estimated to have grown by 14.7% in 2012-13 to touch Rs 35,946 crore, according to a Voice&Data Survey.

The market grew from Rs 31,330 crore in FY'12 with Korean electronics maker Samsung dethroning Nokia from the top position this year, the survey said.

The 18th annual survey 'V&D 100' covered over 30 mobile handset companies doing business in India across categories like feature phones, multimedia phones, enterprise phones and smartphones.

The survey attributed Samsung's rise in Indian market to its rich product portfolio catering to customers of all budget categories.

"Samsung handset prices range from Rs 1,500 to Rs 50,000 and come in varied screen sizes. These two factors helped the company grab customer's attention, besides the product quality and new features," it added.

The survey said Samsung ended the year with revenues of Rs 11,328 crore in 2012-13 as compared to Rs 7,891 crore in FY'12, a growth of 43.6%. It also became the market leader with 31.5% market share.

On the other hand, Nokia, with 27.2% market share, dropped to the No 2 spot.

In the 12 months ended March 2013, Nokia's revenues from Indian operations were placed at Rs 9,780 crore as compared to Rs 11,925 crore in FY'12, as per the survey.

"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," it added.

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

The survey said Apple's revenues grew 417.2% to post revenues of Rs 1,293 crore in FY'13 as compared to Rs 250 crore in the year ago period.

Though India was never a focus market for the Cupertino-based smart devices maker till some years back, in the last two years, the iPhone maker has started making inroads slowly.

"In the last fiscal, Apple made some disruptive changes in its sales strategy, which paid off. Appointing Ingram Micro and Redington as the national distributors for their entire sales, and offering EMI schemes to the consumers to buy the most coveted Apple product changed the game for them," the survey said.

Apple now enjoys 3.6% market share in India having the smallest number of handset models in its portfolio.

Homegrown handset maker Micromax captured the third position with 8.7% market share. In FY'13, Micromax posted revenues of Rs 3,138 crore as against Rs 1,978 crore in FY'12, a growth of 58.6%.

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