Xiaomi India posts $1bn revenue in 2016

Bouncing back from 2015 slump, Xiaomi India raked in over $1 billion (Rs 7,000 crore approx.) in revenue in 2016 with 2X smartphones sales.

Speaking to Economic Times, Xiaomi India head, Manu Jain said that “Whether you look at big business houses, or FMCG companies, electronic manufacturing companies, IT companies, social media giants, no company has achieved such numbers in the history of India.”

Adding that local operations were profitable, Manu said that the company now plans to increase its investment in the world’s fastest growing smartphone market. The Chinese smartphone aims at expanding its manufacturing facilities and widen the product range this year.

While Apple and Micromax, both of which have been present in the country for longer, posted revenue of Rs 10,000 crore each in the year ended March, Xiaomi that launched operations in India only in 2014 have posted the humongous figure within its first two years of its operations.

Notably, 2015 wasn’t a great year for the company as it missed smartphone sales target by 12 percent. Also the smartphone sales for Q3 in China slumped 42 percent.

Xiaomi ranked No.4 smartphone company by volumes behind Samsung, Lenovo and Micromax as of September, with a 7.4 percent market share, according to IDC. But Manu says the company is set to take 2017 head-on with upgrades in line for existing models like Redmi Note 3, flagship Mi 5, Mi Max and Redmi 3s Prime besides launch of new ecosystem products.

Xiaomi is presently awaiting approval for its single brand retail licence and hopes to increase its offline presence to 30 percent share of sales from present 10 percent.

Manu spoke about expanding its manufacturing capacities in India to meet rising demand. Xiaomi also looks to double the number of its service centres to 500 in 2017.