Samsung India’s annual mobile phone revenue up 27%

South Korean electronics major Samsung posted a 27% jump in revenue for its mobile-phone business in India for the year ended March 2017 and the company is hopeful of a similar feat this financial year.

Samsung India posted revenue of over Rs 340 billion (US$5.3 billion) for the year ended March 2017, helped by local manufacturing and expansion of its retail channels.

Samsung India’s overall revenue for the fiscal year 2017 was about Rs 570 billion ($8.9 billion), a 20% increase and marginally ahead of the 19% growth of Rs 470 billion ($7.34 billion) in 2015-16. Mobile phones accounted for about 60% of Samsung’s overall business.

Samsung has been a dominant player in the Indian mobile-phone market, but has faced stiff competition of late from Chinese groups such as Xiaomi, Lenovo, Oppo and Vivo, who collectively enjoy over half of the market.

A third-quarter report released by research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) in November said Samsung and Xiaomi both enjoy a 23.5% market share each, followed by Lenovo (9%), Vivo (8.6%) and Oppo (7.9%). In the first quarter Samsung enjoyed a market share of 26%, while Xiaomi had 13%.

Samsung’s best selling brands were Galaxy J2, Galaxy J7 Nxt and GalaxyJ7 Max and those three items contributed to almost 60% of its sales volume.