The Chinese Invasion of the Indian Mobile Market :Why Micromax should be worried

China India, Indonesia and Philippines, are among the fastest growing markets, as US Europe Mobile shipments show decline. India as the world’s third largest smartphone market, had the highest growth in this segment in the Asia Pacific. The year-on-year smartphone shipment growth was 186 per cent in the first quarter of 2014, says IDC. A little over 30 million smartphones are now sold yearly in India

India’s mobile subscriber base is set to cross 696 million connections by the end of this year, according to a recent report published by Gartner. India is now the cynosure of all " smartphone manufacturers".The world biggest market is not on the radar screen of " the biggest and the smallest of players. India has been a market dominated by Nokia ( 2000 to 2006 ) and Samsung today holds sway.. until recently, when Micromax dislodged Samsung from no 1 spot , with 17% share of handsets 

However the  Indian market is among the most price sensitive in the world  where,consumers will demand rock bottom price.. but will not compromise on quality.. In India the " masses " which consists of the brands between" Rs 3000 to 6500 " segment ... are the real battleground for the new Chinese low price handset makers.These and about a  dozen Chinese handset brands,   like Gionee, Lenovo, OPPO, Huawei, ZTE and Konka.  have together taken a little more than 10 per cent of the Indian handset market in the past couple of years. The number was only one to two per cent about two years earlier.

Beside the top eight Chinese Mobile brands which have already made their presence felt here, in India, another 45 — including Zopo, UMI, JiaYu, Mogu, Iocean and Meizu , MetoKiss,OPPr819— are working to tap the smartphone market here.  As the market grows " Chinese brands are expected to take away about 8 to 10% of the market, where indian brands like Micromax have successfully dented Samsung .

However, Micromax faces  the biggest threat, as it thrives on low budget with frills, market..Samsung did not compete against Micromax on Price.. but on quality. Also the difference in terms of  market share 16.7% against 14.5% is too small ....Even if the chinese phones takes away 5 to 7% of the mobile market share , it will make a dent in Micromax's fortunes as it  works on a volume game .