Nokia's India revenue falls 23 percent
Nokia's annual revenue in India, its second biggest market after China, fell for the second consecutive year, with sales totaling about 2.23 billion euros (US$2.87 billion) in 2012 from all its business divisions including smartphone, network infrastructure, and maps.
This was a 23 percent decrease from 2.92 billion euros (US$3.77 billion) in 2011, the Economic Times reported Sunday. The Finnish phonemaker saw net sales in India hit 2.95 billion euros (US$3.81 billion) back in 2010.
"The year 2012 was one of transition for Nokia," a Nokia spokesperson said. "While the first half of the year was challenging, our execution against a focused business strategy started to translate into financial results in the final three months of the year. Nokia is working at a new clock speed, and we look forward to delivering new and innovative solutions to consumers in India and globally in 2013."
The company attributed the revenue drop to increased competition as well as currency fluctuation.
Explaining the currency fluctuation, Nokia said the majority of its non-euro based sales was denominated in the US dollar, and having a presence in emerging markets such as China, India, Brazil, and Russia gave it substantial foreign exchange exposure. The Indian rupee depreciated by 2.3 percent against the euro, it added.
Nokia highlighted that competition was intensifying not just in India, where various local mobile device manufacturers had emerged, but also across other emerging markets. "Success of such competitors could adversely affect sales of our mobile devices in various countries such as China, Indonesia, and India where we have been traditionally strong," the company said.
According to data from CyberMedia Research in October, Nokia was the overall top phonemaker in India in the first half of 2012. Data from the India market research firm showed the phonemaker held 22.2 percent share of the overall 102.4 million shipments in the country between January and June last year. But it noted that while Nokia held first place in feature phone shipments, it took second place in terms of smartphone shipments, losing the top spot to Samsung.