India mobile handset shipments grow 6.7pc, to 101 million units in 12 months ending June 2009

NEW DELHI, INDIA: India’s mobile handset market touched 100.9 million units in the year ended June 2009, recording a growth of 6.7 percent from 94.6 million units in the previous year ended June 2008, according to IDC India.

Market intelligence firm, IDC’s India Quarterly Mobile Handsets Tracker, 2Q 2009, September 2009 release stated that in terms of units shipped Nokia had the largest share of 56.8 percent, followed by Samsung with a 7.7 percent share, while LG stood third with a 5.4 percent share in the 12-month period ended June 2009.

Fig. 1: India Quarterly Mobile Handsets Market: New Vendor Shipments Growth
Source: IDC India
According to Deepak Kumar, Associate VP, Research, IDC India: "The number of emerging mobile handset vendors in the India market has grown to reach 26 in Q2 CY2009 and their contribution to overall shipments in terms of units crossed 6.3 percent for the first time during the twelve-month period ended June '09. This is as against only 11 emerging vendors representing a share of 1.2 percent of overall shipments during the previous twelve-month period (Jul. '07-Jun. '08)."

“We see the market getting further crowded, especially in the lower- and mid-market segments. At the same time, an accelerated evolution of the market is at work, as the rising competition forces vendors to offer newer, richer features at attractive price points. In other words, a combo of volume and value is at work,” Deepak added.

New vendors make a mark
A number of new vendors entered the India mobile handsets market in the last 12-18 months to carve a niche for themselves by offering feature-rich (dual SIM card, full QWERTY keyboard) and application-rich (IM enabled) mobile handsets at attractive price points. They also introduced entry-level models for the ‘price sensitive’ Indian consumer.