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US-based PE firms Sandstone Capital and Sequoia Capital have acquired a minority stake in Micromax Informatics Limited, an India-based provider of mobile phone solutions and wireless technologies for mobile users, for about INR2,000 million ($43.52 million), in a pre-IPO placement.

Sandstone and Sequoia have acquired less than 10% stake in Micromax. This is the second PE placement in Micromax after TA Associates acquired a minority stake of less than 20% in the company for Rs.225 crore in January this year.
For 2009-10, it posted revenues of Rs.1,600 Cr with a net profit of Rs.150 Cr.

Micromax leads a pack of domestic companies, which includes Karbonn Mobiles, Spice Mobiles, Videocon Industries and Lava International, that have made inroads into the Rs.30,000-crore mobile phone market traditionally dominated by multinationals such as Nokia, Samsung, LG and Motorola. The company is the largest domestic mobile handset company. It has expanded sales network in countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Finally Nokia has come out with dual sim based phones in order to regain its lost market share and also check its yearly revenue. Worried by the run away success of local mobile manufacturers -micromax, spice, maxx etc which offer dual sim based phones from 1.5k-5k price range Nokia has been contemplating to launch dual sim phones

According to IDC research, Nokia’s market share dipped from 64% in 2008-09 to 52.2% in 2009-10. The company’s revenue too fell from Rs16,567 crore to Rs14,100 crore during the same period.

Nokia launched C1 and C2 dual sim phones to attract the users primarily from tier 3 cities and rural sector where demand is high for dual sim phones. Nokia claimed that these models, especially Nokia C1, will provide a standby battery time of up to six weeks, the longest ever for a Nokia phone.

The Nokia C1 is a basic model without much multimedia features. The users can only use this type for voice and SMS. It has a FM radio, a flashlight and colour screen. The ‘call divert’ feature will help the users not to miss a call from either of the two SIMs.The users can switch between the two SIM cards by simply holding down a key. Users can buy Nokia C1 at just Rs 1999.

Nokia C2 has features like Ovi Mail and Ovi Life Tools, which provides information on healthcare, agriculture, education and entertainment. The memory capacity can be expanded upto 32 GB using Micro SD cards. Users can buy this dual SIM phone at just Rs 2500.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Micromax is now India’s third-largest GSM mobile phone vendor with a market share of 6 percent after Nokia (62 percent) and Samsung (8 percent), according to research firm IDC. It sells anywhere from 700,000 to one million mobile phones every month. And by its own estimates it is now selling nearly Rs.1,500 crore worth of phones annually.

Their Killer category is dual sim phones and this dual sim feature is today present in 20 to 30 percent of all mobile handsets sold in India. Micromax Mobiles — offers this feature on 22 out of the 26 phone models it sells in India. The Q3 itself, though fancy looking, costs only Rs. 3,700. Strangely Nokia doesn’t have a single phone with dual sim feature and i am sure micromax growth story will force nokia to adopt dual sim feature in some of their phones.

The guys at Micromax have two aces up their sleeve — a keen eye for what the customer needs, and the ability to swing their supply chain.  Micromax was selling computers and “fixed wireless” public phones (PCOs) before entering the crowded mobile phone market. The company’s first phone, the X1i, was born from the realisation that many Indian villages and towns didn’t get enough electricity to even recharge a phone daily. By increasing the size of the battery to 1800 mAh, Micromax was able to tout a standby time of 30 days for the X1i. And at the rather affordable price of Rs. 2,150, the phone was a big success in rural India.

Intense competition among mobile operators for subscribers would inevitably lead to multiple connections per user. But carrying two phones around in your pockets wasn’t something most people fancied. The seemingly obvious solution — handsets that accept two SIM cards simultaneously — became Micromax’s second killer category.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com