Recap 2015: Xiaomi gets insanely disruptive

The world’s most valued start-up upped the ante for the India market with its richly-packed handsets flash selling at aggressive price points, supported by a well-charted investment strategy

Dubbed as the Apple of China and backed up with an undisclosed early-stage funding and stake from market-leading mobile chipset maker Qualcomm, the company sharpened its focus on the India market in a big way this year.

The company, which reached a valuation of USD 45 billion in December 2014, disruptively leveraged the online market channels through a well-crafted flash sale strategy that continued to unfold and evolve through the year. Though it started off with an exclusive partnership with Flipkart for sale of its handsets in India, it ended that exclusivity and roped in other e-marketplace majors as well like Amazon and Snapdeal in April.

Already the market leader in China, Xiaomi clearly viewed India as its next biggest market globally, and worked on multiple fronts simultaneously as a holistic approach towards the market. Aiming to be the No. 1 player by 2020 in India, perhaps the most significant of its other steps was to draw out local manufacturing plans through contract manufacturer Foxconn, which has already started ramping up investments towards expanding its production capacities locally. In fact, the Taiwanese contract maker was understood to have started making handsets for Xiaomi as early as July 2015.

In another strategic move, Xiaomi also reportedly said it would be investing USD 100 million in Indian start-ups to build a favorable mobile internet ecosystem around its business. The company has also invested in a 25,000 square feet R&D facility in Bengaluru that would house around 100 people in a year’s time. Moreover, it has also tied up with tier 1 distributor Redington to expand offline retail presence.

The India market has become strategically significant for Xiaomi after a saturating China market has added to growth pressures, so a continued action is the least to be expected in the coming year too.

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