Lava qualified for the production linked incentive scheme of the government. The company is eligible for incentives on mobile phones priced under Rs 15,000 a unit under the domestic company category of the scheme. It plans to enter markets that are relatively less competitive in Africa and West Asia.
They are working constantly to Improve production capacity and ramping up the workforce in 2021. Lave has a manufacturing capacity of 4 crore feature phones and 2.6 crore smartphones per annum. It plans to invest Rs 200 crore to amply production numbers. It will also add 3,000 new employees to its workforce, with the aim to capture 5 percent of the market share. In an interaction Tejinder Singh, Head-Product, Lava International Ltd share more details about Lava’s new audio product line ups and Design in India initiatives with our Editor in Chief, Jayanta Ghosh.
Lava still able to hold the feature phone market in India, what are the key aspects of this, specifications, price or the reach of channel?
Lava is not only able to maintain its way over the feature phone market in India but also grow at fast pace. Over the past two years, we have grown exponentially from 5 per cent to over 23 per cent.
The primary reason for our growth has been our emphasis in our Design in India initiative. We have been raising the infrastructure of our R&D center in Noida with huge investments and technological upgradation.
Design in India is in line with the principles of Make in India to make our industry and country Atmanirbhar (self-dependent) in mobile phone manufacturing and design. Our aim is to make our country ‘Unnat’.
So, our products are not only Made in India but also Made by Indians, as our tech team, drawn from the pool of young Indian engineers from Indian engineering colleges have been able to come up with innovations, which are even unknown globally.
Lava has been able to launch world’s first feature phone with heart rate and blood pressure monitoring, world’s first feature phone with temperature monitoring, innovations like AI battery, Military Grade certified robust devices. These products have created additional value in the life of feature phone consumers and they have honoured us with higher market share. Considering accessibility is also important for our consumer, hence we have ensured our reach to more than 110k+ outlets which could be even found in the remotest of villages in India.
How big is the global chip shortage for Lava, how they are planning to overcome this situation?
Spurred by the pandemic, the demand for semi-conductor chips has become much higher than expected due to a sudden thrust towards digitization. The pandemic has preponed its adoption by at least a decade, with our life and work becoming more dependent on the usage of technology. Number of gadgets like mobile phones, laptops etc. at homes have increased like never before in our homes.
Now there are multiple mobiles in our homes – for personal usage as well as for the children to support their e-learning. Offices too have handed gadgets like laptops, tablets and e-readers to their employees to smoothen their working from home.
“We Sailed Through Smoothly Due to LAVA’s Strategic Tie up with MediaTek”
In addition, there is a new demand from iOT, automobiles with smart panels, and other smart-consumer electronics. Therefore, overall the demand for semi-conductor chips has become much higher than expected. On supply side, there was an adverse impact due to the pandemic. This led to a global chip shortage, and impacted us, like other players in the market, also to some extent.
We sailed through smoothly due to LAVA’s strategic tie up with MediaTek
our key component partner in chipset manufacturing. They ensured that we were able to manage the supplies. We also have partnership with MediaTek for Design in India support which ensures that supply chain control on chipsets is better with the process of direct sourcing in India. Our strategy is to continue our strategic collaboration with chipset vendor to overcome this or any other situation in the future.
Lava recently announced entry to the audio category with TWS, why it is important for Lava? What are the key highlights of the new audio lineup?
As explained digitization is increasing at faster pace, hence we decided to enter this category to serve Indian consumer’s growing need in this category. It is important for Lava as this segment is growing exponentially. Therefore our future growth opportunity is huge due to our indigenized R&D capability. The key highlights of the new audio line up is longer battery life, better audio experience along with comfort with longer hours of usage also. These were key pain points identified and resolved by us to serve consumers better.
Apart from TWS, will we also see products like neckbands and speakers from Lava?
Yes, we will launch neckbands and speakers. We will not rush into launching new products. We only want to give our consumers high quality products. Accordingly we will plan our launches, and intend to give new product every quarter. Lots of planning and consumer feedback goes into our manufacturing and design basis feedbacks shared by our consumers.
Are all the audio products manufactured by LAVA? Please elaborate..
All our audio products are not only ‘Make in India’ but also designed in India. They are indigenously designed and manufactured by our engineers in Noida after taking into account Indian conditions and usages. LAVA stands with the government of the day in making the country self-reliant in mobile phone manufacturing, so that we as a company can reduce our dependence on the global supply chain, which has become vulnerable due to some or the other issues with some foreign nations.
