Motorola Aims To Double Export From India, Eyes 8-10% Market Share

Lenovo-owned Motorola is reportedly targeting 8-10% of India’s smartphone market in the next two years as it aims to double its manufacturing capacity and increase exports from the country.

As per Mint’s report, Prashant Mani, executive director of Motorola’s Asia Pacific region, said that in 2022 the company grew 100% by volumes, the same in 2023, and in 2024 it plans to double over last year. 

He added that in terms of value, the growth will be even higher.

This comes months after Motorola was looking to double its exports from India this year by ramping up shipments to North America.

Back then, Mani told ET, “North America is our primary export market from India. Currently, we have been exporting 20-25% of our capacity to North America, and every year, we are seeing step-ups in terms of growth. We are planning to double our exports next year (in 2024).”

Interestingly, Motorola is yet to feature in India’s top five smartphone player rankings. By the end of 2023, Samsung, Vivo, Xiaomi, Realme, and Oppo were among India’s top five smartphone players, with market shares of 18%, 17%, 16.5%, 12% and 10.5% respectively.

With doubled phone sales in the country in 2023, Motorola is aiming to take market share away from competitors to become India’s third-largest player by volume by the end of 2024.  

Mani also mentioned that the company’s exports and manufacturing capacities will also double. Other executives also conveyed that the exports will remain about 25-30% of its local production, even as the production scale increases. 

Going beyond just assembling, Motorola is talking to suppliers to find local components for making chargers in India. Mani said that Motorola plans to increase the amount of locally made parts with the help of its manufacturing partner Padget Electronics, a subsidiary of Dixon Technologies.

Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google in 2014 at $2.91 Bn. Motorola was among the early beneficiaries of the Centre’s production-linked incentive (PLI) for mobile phone manufacturing.

The Centre has been pushing Chinese smartphone brands to have an Indian engagement.

Meanwhile, Apple has been shifting some of its production to India. The company is now looking at producing iPhones worth INR 1 Lakh Cr in India by the end of March 2024.

Amid all this, Apple also became the largest smartphone exporter from India, with South Korea’s Samsung at the second place.

Meanwhile, another Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi, which is currently manufacturing wireless audio products in India, is also said to be looking to start smartphone production in the country. Tech giant Google has also announced its plans to begin production of Pixel smartphones in India.

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