Xiaomi India revenue rises 175% in FY18, Mi posts net profit of Rs 2.93 bn

Xiaomi’s India revenue jumped 175 per cent in 2017-18 to Rs 230.6 billion year-on-year.

The Chinese consumer electronics major, which forayed into the country’s smartphone market in mid-2014, posted Rs 83.8 billion in sales in 2016-17, documents available at the Registrar of Companies show.

Xiaomi Technology India — the firm that sells smartphones under popular brands like Redmi and Mi — posted Rs 2.93 billion net profit. In 2016-17, it had a net profit of Rs 1.64 billion.

The firm is now the second-largest consumer electronics player in the country behind Samsung.

Samsung Electronics India gets nearly 38 per cent of its sales from appliances and electronics such as TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines. It posted Rs 555.12 billion in sales in 2016-17.

Its revenue from the mobile business stood at Rs 342.61 billion in the year.

While in recent quarters, Xiaomi has launched smart TVs, air purifiers, and fitness bands, it continues to get over 90 per cent of its revenue from the sale of smartphones.

The Bengaluru-headquartered firm’s phenomenal rise in the country’s smartphone market in the past four years is evident from its growth in revenue that is now almost 23 times of what it was in 2015-16 — the first full year of its operation here.

Revenue stood at Rs 10.46 billion in the year.

The firm depends on a dozen-odd smartphone models for sales growth in India and has observed similar trends in its volume sales.

In 2015, the first full calendar year of its operations in the country, its market share was 2.5 per cent. By end-2017, it touched 20.9 per cent, according to International Data Corporation.

In the September quarter, its share went up to 27 per cent. It shipped in record number of devices (12 million) during the quarter. It has become the only handset brand to pip Samsung in mid-2017, since the Korean company snatched the top spot in 2012 from Nokia.

According to Manu Kumar Jain, vice-president of Xiaomi Global, who overlooks operations in India, the firm’s focused approach with a handful of devices in its armory helped it achieve high growth in past years.

Its revenue from other operations that includes newly ventured consumer financing business was Rs 1.14 billion, compared to revenue from sale of Xiaomi products at Rs 228.66 billion.

Jain said in a recent interview that Xiaomi will foray into new territories such as electric cycles and mobility products other than drones that attract stringent regulations in India.