Lava sees a definitive resurgence in affinity in direction of indigenous cell manufacturers
| Picture Credit score: Particular Association
Indian cell market is fiercely aggressive, however we thrive on challenges, Sunil Raina, MD, Lava Worldwide informed completely to The Hindu.
“Our built-in R&D and manufacturing prowess give us unmatched autonomy to innovate for the nation’s wants. We take satisfaction in our self-reliance via in-house design, parts sourced domestically, and manufacturing amenities with an annual capability of 42 million handsets. This self-sufficiency insulates us from exterior vulnerabilities,” mentioned Raina.
Lava, which began its journey in 2009 via function telephones, accomplished 15 years in March. It’s only surviving indigenous cell model amidst Korean and Chinese language gamers in India. The model claims to have a retail community of over 1.2 lakh counters, over 850 distributors, and 700 plus service centres pan-India.
The homegrown firm can be the primary smartphone maker in India to launch a 5G smartphone (Agni sequence) within the sub-11k phase.
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Within the final two fiscal years, the corporate mentioned it witnessed “2x income development” and that “Lava’s function telephones owned a 24% market share in April to December 2023 interval.”
On world growth, Raina mentioned, “We’re increasing globally, resulting in a 19% improve in export income this fiscal throughout function telephones, smartphones, spares and equipment.”
The corporate has expanded its footprints to rising markets like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Qatar, UAE and Bangladesh. “In Nepal, we intention to seize a 25% function telephone and 5% smartphone market share by this yr finish,” expects Raina.
Since its inception, Lava claims to have generated greater than 50,000 direct and round 8,000 oblique employments. At the moment, it has over 3,000 folks on its rolls.
Raina additional defined, “With 100 staff engaged in R&D, which is the primary and solely Indian R&D in handset manufacturing in India, Lava has focussed in direction of constructing the whole ecosystem of cell know-how, whereas producing high quality employment alternatives.”
Lava is a contract producer — that means they make telephone for different manufacturers. The corporate says that India is rising as a worldwide cell manufacturing powerhouse with insurance policies like Manufacturing Linked Incentives (PLI).
“Lava was the primary to introduce Floor Mount Know-how (SMT traces) and foster an indigenous provide chain for parts. The corporate’s worldwide acquisition has additional strengthened its provide chain dominance,” Raina mentioned.
On model worth and notion amongst Indian patrons, Lava sees a definitive resurgence in affinity in direction of indigenous cell manufacturers. The corporate cited a CMR report, which says it’s the solely Indian smartphone model with a 68% buyer suggestion and 61% person satisfaction as a consequence of its value-for-money proposition.
“Shoppers resonate with Lava’s differentiated experiences via its no bloatware coverage, quarterly software program updates, and industry-first initiatives,” mentioned Raina.
Lava grew over 36% y-o-y in 2023 in comparison with ‘others’ manufacturers in smartphone since it’s not a quantity participant, discovered Counterpoint. It was adjudged because the quickest rising smartphone model in 2023 within the 10k to 20k value phase by the analysis agency.
As per Lava’s inside evaluation, it occupies near 2% market share in smartphone and over 25% share in function telephone market.