Xiaomi eyes India's rural market to fuel growth

Chinese tech major Xiaomi is eyeing India's rural market to further boost its growth in smartphone and smart TV segments. "We believe offline market is a segment where significant growth is possible. Towards this, we have launched a whole new format, called Mi stores, to cater to India's rural smartphone market.

"Through Mi stores, we have exclusive Xiaomi outlets targeting rural India, which is tier-3 markets and beyond. Recently, in a single day, we launched 500 stores in rural markets across the country," Xiaomi India Chief Operating Officer Muralikrishnan B said Tuesday. 

He was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of some of the company's products.

"Not just smartphones," he said, "we believe that televisions is another area where a significant amount of growth is possible. In less than nine months, we have sold over a million smart TVs and today, we are

No. 1 player in the smart TV market. So, we believe that offline expansion and category expansion shall continue to fuel our growth and success in India."

Xiaomi launched its recently announced Redmi Note 6 Pro and Mi LED Smart TV PRO series and some other products in Chandigarh.

About Chandigarh market, he said: "It has been over a year since we have been present in Chandigarh. We are already No. 1 smartphone brand in Chandigarh with a market share of 39.6 per cent. We have 30 Mi preferred partner stores and 10 multi-brand retailers. We have one exclusive Xiaomi flagship store, 10 service centres for smartphone and television customers."

On trends in the smartphones market in the country, Muralikrishnan said: "People's aspirations are improving. Technology is improving. And our product philosophy is based on three fundamental principles -- best specification, highest quality and honest pricing.

"You need to address every price point in the market. The Redmi 6a and 6 series has a price point cover of Rs 6,000-Rs 8,000. For Redmi Note series and Y series, you have the Rs 10,000-12,000 price cover, and with Poco, it starts from Rs 20,000 onwards... That way, we are covering various segments in the market," he said.

Asked about market share of Xiaomi in smartphone segment in the country, he said: "As per an IDC's report, for Q3 of 2018, we have 27.3 per cent market share and we are the market leaders for five continuous quarters."

Asked to share Xiaomi's plans for the country in near term, he said: "The smartphone market continues to grow and that is something we will continue to invest in. We will continue to introduce innovative products in line with our philosophy."