China’s top mobile phone manufacturer BBK Group continues to lead Indian market

Despite the regulatory actions against the Chinese smartphone brands and auditors questioning their viability in India, China’s top mobile phone manufacturer BBK Group continues to lead the Indian smartphone market with revenue of Rs 81,870 crore in 2022-23 even though it declined by over 2% year-on-year. This includes sales of the five BBK Group brands -- Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, Realme and iQoo, as per latest regulatory filings to the Registrar of Companies.

In contrast, Samsung India’s mobile phone business sales rose by 27% in FY23 to Rs 70,292 crore in FY23 while Apple India business grew by 48% to Rs 49,321 crore, RoC filings reveal. Most of the Chinese brands have also turned around market share loss in India in 2023, as per latest data.

As per market tracker Counterpoint Research, market share of Vivo, Oppo and OnePlus went up in calendar 2023 by up to two percentage points as compared to the previous calendar year, while that of Xiaomi and Realme had improved year-on-year in October-December quarter of 2023. In fact, the data shows Xiaomi regained its market leadership in India last quarter beating Samsung after four quarters.


“The geo-political or regulatory issues against Chinese companies in India have not impacted the Indian consumer psyche at all. Without the Chinese brands, there are not too many options in smartphones with just one brand Samsung available across price segments. Consumers want variety especially when 94% of the market is still led by Android devices,” said Counterpoint’s research director Tarun Pathak.

BBK Group has two main sales entities in India – Oppo Mobiles India in whose books sales of Oppo, OnePlus and Realme brands are accounted and Vivo Mobile India where sales of Vivo and iQoo.

Just released financials of Oppo Mobiles India in the RoC reveals that while its sales declined by 9% to Rs 51,994 crore in 2022-23 which it attributed to “tough market conditions”, sales of Vivo Mobile India went up by 11% to Rs 29,875 crore. Xiaomi is yet to file its FY23 financials to RoC.

The government has alleged several irregularities in the last couple of years on operations of Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi such as custom duty evasion, income tax notices for assessment of incomes of previous years, money laundering, illegal remittances and their bank accounts were frozen forcing them to take legal recourse to ensure business continuity. The investigations are still continuing.

In the RoC filings, independent auditors have flagged concerns about the viability of operations of Oppo Mobiles India due to regulatory issues, poor financial health due to losses and liabilities.

Mohit Yadav, founder at business intelligence firm AltInfo, said with negative equity, swelling losses, and litigation overhang, Oppo has a steep climb to achieve sustainable profitability and positive cash flow. “Securing ongoing financing and concessions from suppliers are stopgaps; a viable turnaround strategy is imperative,” he said.

One of the auditor said in Oppo’s FY23 report that Oppo’s negative net worth along with significant losses, liabilities significantly higher than the total assets along with adverse debt-equity ratio, multiple litigations with revenue authorities may adversely impact the performance and cash flow position of the company.

The auditor said Oppo’s ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on raising additional funds from its holding company, its existing lender of external commercial borrowing and extension of credit period by its major supplier of raw material.

While Vivo Mobile India turned profitable in FY23 raking in a net profit of Rs 211 crore as compared to a net loss of Rs 123 crore in FY22, Oppo Mobiles India continued to be in red with net loss of Rs 1273 crore last fiscal and Rs 46.8 crore net loss in FY22. Oppo in the filings said the loss is due to foreign exchange fluctuations, increased finance cost due to increase in LIBOR rates and increase in services cost. Both Apple and Samsung are profitable in India.

Overall, market share of all Chinese brands together have remained steady at 74% in 2023 and 2022 declining from 75-76% in Covid disruption years of 2020 and 2021, but up from 72% in 2019, as per Counterpoint.