India's overall smartphone market is expected to contract by 10-15% this year as a sharp rise in memory chip prices pushes up handset costs, Dixon Technologies Group CFO Saurabh Gupta said, even as the electronics manufacturer looks to gain market share in a shrinking industry.
Speaking to NDTV Profit, Gupta said memory prices had risen five to six times, translating into a 30-35% price increase for low-end to medium-end smartphones, since memory forms a large component of overall device cost.
"Definitely it is impacting the demand," he said, adding that industry reports pointed to India's smartphone volumes falling from around 153 million units to 10-15% lower this year.
Despite the broader slowdown, Gupta said Dixon is expected to hold, and even expand, its market share.
"We will be hopefully maintaining our market share. In fact, we'll be gaining our market share," he said, adding that the company expected to match its rivals' volumes this year.
He noted that maintaining steady numbers in a declining market itself reflected strong performance. "If you are able to maintain our numbers, I think so we have broadly done well in this segment," he said.
Gupta added that while short-term commodity cost pressures and inflationary trends across the supply chain remained a challenge industry-wide, Dixon continued to see a large structural opportunity in India's broader electronics sector, currently valued at $135 billion and projected to nearly triple by 2030.
He cited a favourable government policy framework and the global "China plus one" shift in manufacturing as tailwinds benefiting Indian players such as Dixon.
Mobile manufacturing remains the largest driver of Dixon's growth, Gupta said, with the segment expected to be reinforced further by upcoming production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes aimed at boosting exports.
He said the company was already witnessing "significant traction" from two of its customers on the export front, which he expects to improve capacity utilisation and margins over time.
Separately, Gupta highlighted that Dixon remains the only major player in India's electronics manufacturing services (EMS) sector that has not raised capital since its 2017 IPO, even as peers such as Amber Enterprises and Syrma SGS have repeatedly tapped markets for funds.
He said the company's return on capital employed of 42% over three years, well above the industry's mid-teen range, along with disciplined working capital management, had allowed Dixon to fund its growth entirely through internal accruals, with plans to scale revenue to Rs 1 lakh crore without further equity dilution.
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