Nokia rings the loudest in India

Finnish telecommunications major Nokia has clocked a 97 per cent growth in revenues from its Indian operations to over .1 billion in 2003, making it the biggest growth market for the company after the UAE. Nokia's sales turnover from India in 2002 stood at ¤ 539 million.

The numbers assumes greater significance since Nokia's sales in China, which is also a booming mobile market, has dipped by a whopping 28 per cent. In contrast, sales in India has more than tripled since 2001 when Nokia got just over ¤ 216 million. India's share in Nokia's total sales has also gone up from 0.8 per cent in 2001 to 3.6 per cent in 2003 when Nokia reported a net sales of ¤29.4 billion.

According to Nokia's annual report 2003 available on Nokia's website, India is ranked sixth when it comes to absolute revenue numbers. While the US has contributed ¤4.4 billion in 2003, making it the largest market for Nokia, Spain which accounted for ¤748 million is the tenth biggest market in terms of absolute sales numbers.

However, India is among the five countries in the top ten which has reported a positive growth in revenues for Nokia consistently for the last two years.

The company's sales in the US and UK for instance dipped by 13.4 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively, between 2002 and 2003. The decrease in sales has been greater in the US when compared with revenue numbers for 2001 which was at euro5.6 billion.

Other countries in the top 10 where Nokia's sales has improved includes Germany, UAE, Brazil, Spain and UAE. Interestingly, India was not even near the top 10 markets for Nokia two years back. While the US has been on the top, China has moved from the second to fourth spot since 2001.

Earlier Jorma Ollila. chief executive officer, Nokia had said India was the fastest growing telecom market in the world.