Micromax plans a comeback to India's smartphone market, first phone to launch next month

Indian handset company Micromax is eyeing a comeback to the smartphone market. The company plans to launch at least 20 new handsets by the end of next fiscal. It has also set aside ₹500 crore for R&D and manufacturing for the said period. One of the first smartphones will arrive by the end of next month, reports Business Today.

Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma told the publication that the company was looking to regain its spot in the smartphone market through the multiple handsets it has planned to launch in the future. He also promised that the phones would look to “disrupt the market.”

Sharma also rejected the notion that Micromax made a comeback plan in the wake of anti-China sentiments. He said that the company had been working on a return to the smartphone market for “much longer.”

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“We actually sensed an opportunity on a global scale when the US-China trade war began over a year ago. This anti-China feeling in India is recent and you cannot plan on launching smartphones overnight," Sharma said.

Micromax was one of the smartphone players in India before Chinese brands came in. At one point (Q4 2014), Micromax had even surpassed Samsung in terms of market share. The company and several Indian handset companies rapidly lost ground to the Chinese companies which offered superior products at a much lower price. Chinese brands also came in with big marketing and advertising budgets.

Micromax and other Indian companies are now betting big on the Indian government’s PLI scheme which aims to help the domestic companies. According to the industry body ICEA, Lava, Dixon, Micromax, Padget Electronics, Sojo, UTL and Optiemus have lined up for availing the benefits under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.