Mobile phone market to reach 250 million units in India this year

The mobile phone market in India is expected to grow by 4% to 250 million units this year and can see more handsets available for less than Rs 5,000, a research report has said.

"An examination of the present scenario, coupled with an analysis of historical trends tells us that the market for India mobile handsets will settle around 250 million units in 2016, a 4 per cent growth compared to 2015," the report, India Mobile Handsets Market, by CyberMedia Research (CMR) said.

The smartphone segment grew at an annual average rate of 32% to about 95 million in 2015 from 77 million a year ago. The report said it expects 4G shipments to cross 50 million units in 2016.

On the other hand, feature phones market continued to dip.

"The decline in feature phone shipments was 17% (from 180 million in 2014 to 144 million in 2015) on an annual average basis," the report said.

In 2015, 3 out of every 4 smartphones shipped were priced at less than or equal to Rs 10,000, the report said.

"Understanding this price sensitivity, handset vendors will continue to widen their portfolio for this sub Rs 10,000 segment. In 2016, we do not expect this structure to change broadly; however, the contribution of less than Rs 5,000 sub segment is likely to increase," the report said.

The CMR researchers also noted that average selling price for a smartphone in 2013 was Rs 13,000 (when 41 million units were sold), which has come down to Rs 10,700 by the end of 2015.

The depreciating value of rupee against US dollar can lead to pressure on margins of mobile phone companies making phone in India, the report said.