Jingoism vs Made in India mobiles

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Editor's note: Micromax was flying high in 2014 as the second-biggest player in the Indian mobiles market. As a marketing and public relations coup, it had signed up Hollywood A-lister Hugh Jackman as its brand ambassador promoting its popular Canvas series of smartphones. It had hired Vineet Taneja, head of Samsung Electronics’s mobile business in India, as its CEO. Micromax had a 13% share of the mobile phone market—including both smartphones and the older feature phones—the fourth quarter of 2014. Four Indian brands, Micromax, Karbonn, Lava and Intex, accounted for around a third of the overall mobiles market. South Korean Samsung, the largest player, was at 19% market share. Of the Indian companies, Micromax, Intex and Lava had established a presence in the growing smartphone market, and the three together had a 33% market share. Samsung was No. 1 here as well, with 22% on its own. However, in that fourth quarter, a new entrant made its debut at No. 5, after Samsung and the Indian trio—Beijing-headquartered Xiaomi with a 4% market share. Fast-forward to the present, with the Indian government banning …