Good cell phones are still costly in India

During a visit to Indian mobile shops recently, I found Hi-end cell phones are still very costly there compared to average Indian income. However, Chinese high-end cell phones are very cheap.

Mumbai, a city in Western India is known as its economic capital. Average Indian graduate male person here earns more or less Rs 15,000 per month. People with professional degrees and skills may go even up to Rs. 100, 000 plus, however that is very exceptional.

The main buyers are coming from the young generation, who either gets high-end cell phones as gifts from parents or other relatives, or in some cases buy those after saving money from petty incomes from here and there. They spend carelessly for lifestyle. Business men and high-profiled servicemen too buy high-end phones, however, their purposes are different, generally they prefer buying Internet-enabled phones for their works on the go.

In other cities, the economic abilities are less compared to Mumbai. However, Bangalore, a city from the Southern part of India, is turning into an electronics hub, where again people prefer buying high-end cell phones.

The cell phone markets in other well known Indian cities like – Kolkata, Chennai, Bhoopal, Pune are no better than that in Mumbai. Maximum demand is being seen by the low-end or entry level cell phones.

Coming back to the price of cell phones, when in Mumbai, a high-end China-made cell phone is available (say) at Rs 3 500, a branded model with the same facilities is available at Rs 20 000. The difference is Chinese models are not guaranteed or warranted against any kind of damage, whereas the international brands give warranty.

Nokia and Samsung dominate the Indian cell phone market. New models of Sony Ericson and others are also gaining popularity. However, even the low-end sets of all these models are costlier than the Chinese brands. So, the young sentimental crowd is mostly looking at the Chinese models.

Will the branded companies take interest in lowering prices to catch up with the growing demand of cell pones in the Indian market?

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