SUDHIN MATHUR

“The buzz of the festive season is completely missing… online sales have taken away a lot of the demand,” a top executive of a leading large-format mobile phone selling chain said.

Lenovo, which sells Motorola phones after it acquired the company in 2014, was the No 2 player in the Indian market in the July-September 2016 with 9.6% market share.

The objective of the entire exercise was to ensure that required data security measures are being taken with regard to hardware and software in mobile phones.

Motorola, which had re-entered the Indian market in 2014 in an exclusive partnership with e-commerce Flipkart, has been gradually increasing its offline presence to reach out to more customers.

Motorola -- which is a part of Lenovo's Mobile Business Group (MBG) -- had started its Indian operations by selling exclusively through e-commerce.

Lenovo said it will push the Moto brand while keeping its dual-brand strategy with its investments towards marketing and offline retail expansion in India.

Alternatives such as reimbursement to companies through the ministry of electronics and IT or at the state level are also being considered.

Some 220 mn units of feature & smartphones are sold in India per year. With over 100 handset brands in a $15-bn market, consolidation is just around the corner.

The Motorola-Lenovo combine plans to strengthen its offline strategy with expansion, with about 25-100 exclusive stores over the next three years.

Mathur replaces Amit Boni, who was serving as General Manager for Motorola India.

"Since India is a top market for Lenovo-Motorola, we are definitely looking into the market for specific opportunities,” said Dillon Ye, vice president, smartphone business lead of Asia Pacific at Lenovo Group told ET.

Although Lenovo had been selling its brand of phones in the offline market prior to acquiring Motorola, it started launching exclusive online models from Diwali 2015.

This helped Lenovo become the largest online seller of smartphones, accounting for a quarter of such sales.

The company is betting on stronger offline presence and new models, including modular phone Moto Z, to grow its market share in the country.

In the quarter ended June, the Lenovo-Motorola combine became the second largest smarphone vendor in India in terms of value with a market share of 9.1%.

Research houses like International Data Corporation, CyberMedia and Counterpoint Technology have lowered their smartphone sale assessments for this year.

While the company will not drop prices of its popular models, discounts through cashbacks and buybacks will be offered during Diwali.

As per IDC's recent report released this month, both Motorola (now owned by Lenovo) and Lenovo combine emerged as the number two player in Q2FY16.

Lenovo claimed it was ahead of Apple, Micromax and Oppo, while Samsung remained the leader in the worldwide smartphone market.

The company aims to capitalize on the upcoming festive season, which includes Rakshabandhan, August, and Diwali.

Talking about the focus in 2016, Mathur said Lenovo is looking at strengthening its position among the top 3 and is enhancing its retail presence as well.

The phone will be available exclusively on Flipkart from 3rd September 2015 while registration will start from 19th August.

Lenovo today launched A7000 smartphone in India, featuring Dolby Atmos audio technology, priced at Rs 8,999. The 4G-enabled handset will be available on Flipkart.