Xiaomi's Manu Kr Jain on game plan for growth and the challenges faced

In an interview with Business Standard's Surajeet Das Gupta, Xiaomi India head Manu Kumar Jain tells about the challenges the company faced in India and how it dealt with the supply chain constraints

Topics
Manu Jain | Xiaomi | India growth story

Surajeet Das Gupta  |  New Delhi 

Manu Kumar Jain, India head, Xiaomi
Illustration: Ajay Mohanty

Q1: Welcome to the Morning Show. Last year has been topsy-turvy for mobile devices primarily because of shortage of chips and all that stuff. How did the market behave for you? What were the challenges and what were the various phases you had to go through, last year? Ans:

  • Last two years have been the toughest professionally
  • Experienced worst supply chain disruption last year
  • Manufacturing in India depends on raw materials coming from different countries
  • Keeping the 15,000 retail partners motivated was a challenge during the pandemic
Q2: In the Q4 your market share fall had been pretty sharp.

Is the competition toughening up or what is the reality on the ground? Ans:

  • Fall in market share (in Q4) was the result of supply constraint, and not competition
  • Last few months have been traumatic in relation to chipset supply and other supply chain constraints
  • Fall in market share for a few quarters is fine, provided the company is on right trajectory from the long-term perspective
  • Covid, supply constraints etc triggered a demand and supply imbalance in connected devices segment
  • Industry expects this imbalance to go away by the middle of this year, driven by local manufacturing, robust supply chain and improvement in chipset supply
Q3: One advantage that you have with Foxconn is that they also have a PLI, which BYD and others do not have. Does that give you the option of looking at exports? Ans:
  • Want to make India the manufacturing hub for connected device
  • Want to export, but the short-term focus is to cater to the domestic demands
  • India is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world for smartphones and connected devices
  • Presently, the company is investing its time and energy into streamlining the supply chains
Q4: You talked about premiumisation of your mobile phone strategy, which (the Rs 30K+ category) today is dominated by OnePlus and Apple. In this market, how do you compete with the Rs 80K+ top-of-the-line segment, which is virtually dominated by one player, though Samsung has one or two products in that range? Ans:

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Read our full coverage on Manu Jain
First Published: Mon, February 14 2022. 08:30 IST
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