Micromax is confident of dethroning market leader Samsung Electronics in the lucrative smartphone segment in the next one year, by when it expects to lead the tablets segment as well, chief executive officer Vineet Taneja said.
How is Micromax poised to tackle increasing competition?
We're a product of competition. We tend to be proactive and even if we miss something, we react very fast.
Your market share is under threat from not just Chinese players, but from Intex as well. Are you worried?
You have always got to be worried in this category, if not then sooner or later, you're dead. But we're not complacent.
Would it matter to you if in this quarter (Q3) you slip to No.3 from No. 2, behind Intex?
People who advertise their numbers have a problem...it means that their numbers require to be advertised...and currently, it's not true. Shipment data comes every month. July, August numbers have come in, so we know. We are ahead in smartphones by a huge mile. Overall as well.
Shipment data is murky because there's a lot coming now through the SKD (semi-knocked down) route. How much of it is in the pipeline or lying in your factories, we don't know. Today, we produce 1.5 million devices locally on a monthly basis, most of it is SKD, but it does not get reported as import data.
Do you think shipment data reports can be manipulated?
Import data is not 100% accurate, that's why you find so much variation between reports. You can never rely on one report. I don't think so (that they can be manipulated).
Where will your main target growth segment be?
Bulk of our focus is sub-Rs 10,000. We're a mass product and we have no qualms about it. That's also the segment which is growing the fastest, irrespective of technologies. Maximum growth of 4G will come from Rs 6,000-10,000 segment.
How do you balance between online and offline?
We're well-balanced. Two elements of online - one sold directly by companies to consumers and two, offline merchants who sell through online. Between the two, our estimate is the online market is 25-30% in smartphones. Our contribution is about 15-20%.
Why are Micromax and some other Indian vendors late to launch 4G phones compared to Chinese rivals?
The service has to be there for 4G devices to sell. Our product lifecycles are much shorter - 3-6 months rather than 9-10 months like some global competitors.