'Made in India' smartphone shipments fall 8% in July-September quarter

Shipments of India-made smartphones declined 8% year-on-year in the third quarter of calendar year 2022 to reach 52 million units, according to the latest research from Counterpoint's Made in India service.

Economic headwinds that led to a decline in consumer demand, and market uncertainties due to geopolitics were the prime reasons for the contraction, the report says, adding that this is the first decline reported this year.

OPPO led the Made in India smartphone shipments in Q3 with a 24% market share, followed by Samsung and vivo. BYD and Lava were the fastest-growing manufacturers in terms of smartphone shipments.

"Two major forces impacted the growth of such smartphone shipments. First, the decline in consumer demand, especially in the entry-level segment, due to the negative macroeconomic indicators. Second, the high channel inventory at the start of the quarter also impacted the manufacturing during the quarter," says Prachir Singh, senior research analyst at Counterpoint.

"We will continue to see PLI disbursements in subsequent quarters, which will add to the local manufacturing landscape. Overall, the manufacturing trend is witnessing an upward trajectory with multiple partnerships happening in recent months, like the ones between Tata Group and Wistron and between Foxconn and Vedanta," says Singh, adding that the country's smartphone manufacturing ecosystem continues to grow with almost 63% of such shipments coming from in-house manufacturers and 37% from third-party electronics manufacturing services players.

On the regulatory front, despite the adverse global climate, the Indian smartphone market has remained resilient, says research analyst Priya Joseph.

"The government's efforts to bring about a supply chain shift and make India a manufacturing hub with constant policy interventions in the form of PLI schemes has helped the country to attract major global players across the value chain. Further, the government is actively pursuing the target of expanding the local value addition from the present 17-18% to 25% in the near future," adds Joseph.

"Looking ahead, we believe that the manufacturing volumes will grow with an increasing focus of the OEMs to export to other countries. Increasing local value addition and exports have been the main focus points of the government under the 'Make in India' scheme," the report says.