In a bid to further gear up its market share, Xiaomi has invested INR 3500 crore in its India business, the biggest investment which the company has made till date in India.
Xiaomi pumped the money in Xiaomi Technology India in two sets, INR 1500 crore on January 17 and INR 2,000 crore on March 1. The company has not commented on how these funds will be utilised. Industry sources, however, cite that the funds are likely to be utilised in water purifiers, washing machines, refrigerators and laptops as well as in expanding the company’s Mi-Home offline retail stores.
The funds came from the holding company, Xiaomi Singapore Pte Ltd. which owns 99.9 per cent of the Xiaomi’s India business. The remaining 0.1 per cent is owned by Xiaomi HK Ltd.
Xiaomi India has till date been reluctant in spending in India and relied on online platforms to soar its India market share. The company also doesn’t own any manufacturing units in India and manufactures products like televisions, power banks, smartphones on a contract basis.
As per Counterpoint Research, Xiaomi owned 28 percent of the Indian smartphone market in the year 2018 as compared to 19 percent in 2017. Oppo, Vivo and Samsung owned 8 per cent, 10 percent and 24 percent respectively.
Xiaomi surpassed Samsung in terms of smartphone shipments in India in the October-December quarter of the year 2017. The company’s India sales surged 175 percent in the 2017-18 period earning revenue of INR 23,060 crore, while its net profit ballooned to 79 percent to INR 293 crore.
On the revenue front, Samsung still remains the biggest smartphone company in India with gross revenue of INR 37,350 crore in 2017-18
