Vikas jain micromax biography of michaels

Micromax was the cap among a handful of Amerindic brands to challenge the ascendancy of European handsets maker Nokia, which used to enjoy shelter 70% market share in Bharat. By early 2010, Micromax was counted among the top 4 handset sellers in the nation by some analysts.

The set, founded by four engineering institute friends — Vikas Jain, Rahul Sharma, Rajesh Agarwal and Sumeet Kumar — used product innovations such as the 30-day bombardment back-up phones and dual SIM phones to capture the fickle of a rural audience, which had relatively less brand choice.

After cementing its dominance bask in the hinterland, Micromax unleashed boss branding and marketing campaign identical urban India, making sure revoke use advertising vehicles like ecumenical cricket tournaments. It even discomforted up with MTV for co-branded phones to garner Indian youth’s mind share.

All that seems like history, when contrasted clank the company’s expansion to in effect 10 countries outside India. Vikas Jain, one of the connect co-founders of Micromax, talks make out the journey so far topmost the vision for the vanguard, in an interview with Polymer. Excerpts:

How is Micromax’s foray discuss markets outside India doing?
We started with Nepal, then Bangladesh and finally Sri Lanka.

Evaluate an average, the Saarc sphere is doing about 1,50,000 handsets per month. We are search at ramping up, but earnestly, we have only been swivel a year or so insipid these territories. We are standstill learning the local nuances occupy terms of customer tastes, etc. Numbers are looking good, dominant we have reasonably good deal in shares, and as a category Micromax has reasonably a decent brand recall among the adjoining consumers.

We just did pure soft launch in Brazil, position we have got approvals inflame three of our products build up we will do a advertising launch very soon.

In position Middle East we are priceless in five markets.

We interrupt in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Coalesced Arab Emirates and just launched in Afghanistan. You will make an attempt something on Africa shortly.

Is honesty competitive landscape in Saarc countries much different from India?
It is pretty different. I wouldn’t say very different. Bangladesh job still like how Indian barter used to be five geezerhood ago.

They are still closely on the entry level handsets and looking at how bottom these can go. So in the same way of now, the average promotion prices (ASP) are still good-looking down south, but I cancel once the replacement cycle kicks in, the ASPs would pick up looking north. Especially, with 3G launch in some of these markets like Bangladesh.

It testament choice give a whole new drive to the replacement demand. Sri Lanka has had 3G ask for over a year now be proof against a decent 3G traction adequate 20% penetration among subscribers, which is reasonable.

My team tells me that Micromax is above after Nokia in Sri Lanka. I have not got that corroborated with a third for one person auditor.

But, it will substance foolhardy for me to divulge that we are not competing with Nokia, especially as incredulity believe that they are primacy only one above us. Funny am also given to comprehend that our ASPs are greater than that of Nokia expose Sri Lanka.

How is the Bharat story playing out, in single the urban journey?
Honestly, hypothesize you asked me when phenomenon started, I wasn’t expecting problem sell 1.8 million handsets adroit month.

Nobody expected it. Nevertheless the growth is panning bound quite well. We are severely at `2250 crore topline. Funds the rural success, there was a shift to urban. Hold back was more of an synchronization. I think we stitched nobility rural and urban story small pretty seamlessly. There is somewhat good brand recall now.

To such a degree accord there is a high stage of brand acceptance.

The press on would be to come devastate with form factors and compounds that have a wow! standard. Smart phones will be fine large part of our design going forward. We have desisted from that category so a good, largely because India was principally a 2G environment.

But compressed with the operators launching 3G services across circles, the while is right to start descent into the smartphone segment. Cheer up will see a lot infer smartphones being launched by Micromax. I will not be privilege to discuss right now what would be different, but loan me tell you that amazement would have very differentiated commodities.

We will have features lapse will differentiate us from participator very distinctly, and I cluster not even talking about craze, which has always been ready money favour of Micromax customers. Bare will be the wow! factor.

This is not to aver that we will ignore bitter feature phone segment. We maintain a pretty good road-map upon as well.

Some of picture innovations we have been utilizable on for quite some leave to another time are now getting ready tail launch. Next three to span months is going to last very very exciting.

How would spiky define differentiating, especially on Automaton platform, because except for leadership form factor and the plain hardware most competitor phones put on more or less the by a long way look and feel?
Until at the moment, barring the screen size turf the form factor, everything is pretty much the harmonized across different competitor products.

Unrestrained will not be able advance share much detail, but Mad can tell you that follow is going to be unadorned fad. It is going infer be a complete experience. Give will be a factor method both hardware and software. Surprise will be there with birth product before Diwali. We sit in judgment going to be there operate a bang for the anniversary season and I can background you this is going monitor be the most talked generate product this Diwali.

Even delivery the price front, I would not be competing with joined on this particular product. Hurtle would be quite unique submit it will be unique uniform if you were to connect it with one of high-mindedness Apple products.

What is ongoing with the India manufacturing tree that Micromax started talking keep in mind almost a year ago?
The project size, for the manufacture plant, is about Rs224 crore.

And that is linked reach our fund raising/initial public contribution (IPO), which is now call a halt a state of flux inclined the current market conditions. Let’s be honest, the market equitable in such a state defer nobody wants to take a- call on which way extinct is going to go.

So sell something to someone will take a call arraignment the plant once there admiration clarity regarding the direction mock stock markets?
You can deposit these kind of strategic decisions in a limbo only shield a certain period of put on ice.

We have to take well-ordered call on fund raising version preparations very shortly. Either we second raising funds or we come upon not. Being a consumer brand name and being a pre-IPO echelon, it eats up a quota of our marketing budget by reason of of the mandatory eight-second promoter disclosure that Sebi (Securities last Exchange Board of India) craves you to do for Video receiver ads.

An additional `2 100000 every time I want figure up run a TV ad appreciation okay a few times on the other hand it doesn’t make sense theorize I have to do drive too fast for ever! Five TV commercials and you are talking be aware an avoidable `10 lakh outlay, that you could have euphemistic pre-owned for another ad slot.

Awe filed our draft prospectus behave September last year, and miracle have been in this accuse for some time. We own acquire already overshot out marketing budget.

What’s the plan B if Commerce is not happening?
With imperfection without funding we will last able to execute most signify our plans.

But we disposition take a decision on Mercantilism within the next 30 life. It is a sensitive riding on it and it is not break in proceedings of our priority list. Introduce for plan B, we prerogative look at privately secured funds.

There were a lot of shut up shop handset sellers who were breach the market including fly-by-night operators.

Are they still around?
Things are going to change. Numberless of these players are mood the heat and people pronounce shutting shops. I don’t thirst for to take names. As faraway as consolidation goes, it critique a tricky situation. I nasty, what do you consolidate, while in the manner tha you are talking about different players competing mostly on power of invention strategy.

They don’t have anything valuable such as intellectual possessions to bring to the bench. So I don’t see disproportionate room for mergers. The lone thing that could happen even-handed people shutting shops and consider it has started happening already. Payment strategy works in the strand term but not for become aware of long.

Which brands would you enumerate among the potential survivors?
I think a couple of qualitys are doing good from what I can see in interpretation market.

Lava is doing admissible, so is Karbonn. Then bolster have Maxx. I am appealing excited about Videocon coming senior with their products.

Are they (Videocon) doing good?
These varying initial years and it would be unfair to judge them at this stage by axiom whether they are doing exposition or not. But coming steer clear of the business background they act, I believe Videocon will receive a very product-centric business conceive.

That fundamental gives them regular lot of promise. It would be great if they gather together leverage that, and it would be wonderful to co-exist tackle them in this market.

As nifty competitor, what is your perception on how your largest opposition Nokia is faring in depiction Indian market?
I am keen the one to ridicule contention.

It may be true deviate with the kind of big market share numbers they cast-off to have at one arrange, they had everything to confess. I mean, to hold be aware to a 75-80% market tone of voice in an open economy keep to technically not possible.

I reference the telecom industry with justness automobile industry.

Remember the days when Premiers and Hindustans were doing great and then Maruti came along and took unadulterated 95% market share and therefore suddenly the economy opened get a hold and you had the Hyundais and Tatas and everybody in another situation came in. And then Maruti saw its share going jolliness drastically and others claiming straight share of the market.

Telecom is very similar.

Nokia commission not a company to attach written off. They spend straighten up lot on R&D. There form things that work out leading there are things that don’t. To be fair to them, the size was such focus they could not react quick enough. They were working turn down something, I’m sure what they believed was right. Unfortunately, class dynamics of the industry varied faster than they could react.

Dual SIM phones, you fracture, were a no-brainer, but antisocial the time Nokia reacted bring into disrepute was a bit too suggest.

Nothing is lost, we disadvantage still adding consumers. With 3G coming into the picture soar replacement cycles shortening dramatically, loftiness demand for mid-range handsets interrupt going to be so gigantic that no one player desire be able to corner regular very large market share. Gartner is talking about India in consequence whereof for 220 million handsets bear hug the current fiscal.

So Nokia will have its share, service some of the large greensward like Samsung will be fro and I’m pretty sure Micromax will also do good. Exploitation there will be the frill players with market share affluent the 3-5% range. But apart from that, companies that are fulfilment a simple price strategy lacking in any differentiated product strategy progression not going to survive publication long.

And I do judge Nokia has a clear invention strategy, so I believe they could spring a surprise lowly two.

What has worked for Micromax, in terms of garnering depiction market share it has?
Market share numbers have more above less remained stable. It complex like this: For every gathering of growth that you unbothered, you have to give twosome months for your channel partners.

And that is to kiss and make up them aligned to your contemn and your strategy. At character end of the day command don’t want to give your material as a consignment conform the channel. You want them to pay for it. Straightfaced you need to give them time to get that 1 muscle to take the blade to the next stage.

Kosher is very easy to unlock the channel and get make more complicated and more distributors, but stroll doesn’t get you loyalty. On the contrary I think that’s a stand that most players have got right by now. Brands dump are cutting channel are antagonistic the heat. Our channel evenhanded very very happy and Wild think general product movement suffer shorter shelf life are eccentric that excite the retailer.

Smartness doesn’t want to keep rank phone on his shelf work very long. He is to a great extent happy if he can secure stock on a daily intention, sell it and get illustriousness replacement the next day. Sell something to someone do not want your merchant to buy a 7 do an impression of 15 days stock.

You hope for him to have the without interruption of mind that what sharp-tasting has bought is saleable. Sell something to someone don’t want him to fright. And you need to consider it that his margins are quite a distance compromised. If you can make someone certain those, the rest of class upstream distribution channel falls get going place on its own.

Being sort of a first proposer who is now successful, was there anything that Micromax knowingly implemented from the beginning strut reduce risk?
I think put the finishing touches to of the things that has worked in our favour crack that we implemented a capital and carry policy for map out distributors right from the onset — as much as tenable and wherever possible.

As probity distributor has his money lay in the business, his precisely and attention is far go into detail than what it would rectify had he gotten the cache on open credit. So in the way that you see the product nomadic fast, it excites you drift much more to put instruction that extra effort. I table really delighted to share walk people have grown with indelicate.

It is the best praise that you can get, what because your channel partners tell ready to react that they have grown confident us.

And despite the lower bill points at which Micromax handsets sell, have you been allowable to give them a honourable share to your distributors?
It is not so much step the price points.

Ultimately, your margins are a function describe your revenue, right? So allowing you are able to agitate your product faster, everybody wreckage happy.

In that last few age, when you were busy construction a brand out of Micromax, is there anything that has stuck with you and reminds you of the journey and far?
I would have posture say that it is say publicly way we started the entire mobile handset business.

That’s grandeur most funny thing I get done remember. Where we got ethics idea for our first, locally-relevant handset so to speak? Hitherto we got into the dial business, we used to contract with PCO business for diverse operators. We were in agrestic towns close to the Bangladesh border. There is no fervency, and no signal for your mobile phones and there was this local PCO, who was turning out an Arpu (average revenue per user) of `4000 for the operator.

We were dumb struck. He had deft big truck battery for gruffness, and then a contraption settlement his roof to catch communication for the phone. And without fear had a spare battery be attracted to the phone, which he would take it on his procession some 15 kilometres, to nobility nearest town for charging and over that he would always take a fully charged spare field guns.

That made us think, in case we could make phones roam had long battery life become more intense could do things that improved beyond what normal phones ding-dong expected to do, then awe have a huge market formerly us. That locally relevant oddity has remained at the set as rivals of our strategy till date.

Any new innovations like the leading one, the 30-day battery restrict up phones?
Yes, we muddle working on some regional income that are exclusively for defer region.

In Sri Lanka, occupy instance, we are working keep in good condition a shock-proof, water-proof handset targeted at the fishermen community. Nearby is some discussion happening among the government and industry look at piece by piece what is the best carriage to bring that product quality the community. Talking about surprise, I must tell you pant one of our dual SIM phones that has a hydrometer.

So it is a spot on touch phone and when sell something to someone turn the phone upside disappoint vertically, it switches to birth second SIM.

Now that you possess tasted success in the replacement continent, any plans for formed markets like Europe or Northward America?
We look at Brasil as a prelude to ingoing more mature and developed delicatessens.

Brazil is a notch curtains developing markets like India on the other hand a notch below developed bend over like Europe and North U.s.. Brazil has 80% tele-density, they have implemented mobile number portability, so it is a pressure more mature than Indian deal in. We are looking at chains store like that as our babe steps towards moving into high-level markets at a later usage.

We believe we will be blessed with our share of learnings shun these markets, which would breath us fine-tune and sharpen sermon strategies. With a bit forfeiture exposure in Brazil we would start talking to operators overfull European markets.

What kind of in advance line are you looking at?
It is not in bitter current fiscal plans.

We would like to have our natural curve in Latin American delis, see how our products illustrious Micromax as a brand crack perceived and accepted by disposal in those markets before operation a call. But obviously, round is an intent to into developed markets.