Brands

Micromax looks to encash anti-China sentiments on return

Published

6 years ago

June 23, 2020

NEW DELHI: The recent ongoing border tension between Indian and China has prompted a major backlash against Chinese products in India. In a bid to encash this anti-China sentiment, homegrown smartphone brand Micromax is making a comeback in the Indian smartphone market.

The company announced on its official Twitter handle that it will launch three new smartphones this year with premium features, affordable pricing and modern looks. The brand is also using hashtags such as #MadeinIndia and #MadebyIndian on its social media channels to promote its offerings.

The Indian smartphone market is dominated by Chinese brands like Xiaomi, OnePlus, Vivo, Realme and others with no Indian brand in the top five. Micromax had its legacy in the market till 2015, before the entry of Chinese giants. According to Canalys, Micromax overtook Samsung in Q4 2015, grabbing 22 per cent of smartphone sales in India, ahead of Samsung’s 20 per cent.

The brand enjoyed massive success once and was known for its power-packed battery with affordable pricing, which made it popular in rural India. In 2015, the company was ranked as the second-largest smartphone seller in India, after Samsung. But soon after the entry of Chinese makers, the tables turned and Micromax was wiped out.

Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo focused heavily on retail distribution, marketing channels, new technologies and other key areas. Micromax also faced stiff competition due to the changing regulatory policies and the onset of 4G technology.

Micromax isn’t the only brand which had faced the brunt. Other Indian companies like Karbonn, Lava, Xolo and Intel have also vanished from the market. Some of them tried focussing on entry-level smartphones, but soon Chinese brands captured that market too.

It’s not going to be an easy task for Micromax to regain the lost market after a gap for several years. Can the growing anti-China sentiments be a boon for Indian smartphone manufacturers or is it a short-term phenomenon?

Independent Communications and Marketing consultant Karthik Srinivasan says, “Features like battery life, camera, screen quality, speed of operation, etc., are graded and compared by a lot of people before making their purchase decision. So, either Micromax or any other Indian brand needs to get their quality right (or at last comparably good) to win over Indian consumers. They cannot depend on anti-China sentiments alone.”

TRA founder and CEO N Chandramouli differs. He says, "It will be a big boon for all non-Chinese manufacturers as the current border tension mounts. Even though Chinese products sell very well in phones, the sentiment of Chinese products, in general, has never been too good. In their price segments, Micromax, Lava, and other such Indian brands will definitely find a greater buying propensity among consumers at a time when they are also in a strong comeback gear. Consumers choose products based on their emotions, values, and beliefs and when it comes to the sovereignty of India being attacked, even the most rational consumers will tend to avoid Chinese brands."

When the #MadeinIndia campaign was launched, the company saw a hope of revival as the brand had an efficient assembling product in India. But soon after, Chinese players started manufacturing their products in India too.

There are speculations that Lava also plans to make a comeback. However, there are no details yet.

Micromax was the first-ever smartphone brand to announced Hugh Jackman as its brand ambassador when the company was at its peak. It also had associations with Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna. However, Chinese smartphones adopted the same proposition. Brands like Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Realme have been riding high on brand ambassadors like Ayushmann Khurrana, Alia Bhatt, Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Salman Khan, Ranveer Singh, etc.

This time Micromax not only needs to strengthen its product portfolio but has to boost awareness and change brand perception in the minds of Indian consumers. So, how crucial does the marketing channel become whenever a brand tries to make a comeback, that too riding on national interest?

“The entire marketing narrative is likely to be one of capturing consumer emotions. Depending on how an Indian brand positions its comeback, it can have a lasting impact. I can foresee Indian phone brands seeking an emotional connect creating ads using actors in military uniform, possibly in treacherous terrain, talking on an Indian phone with his child/wife/mother, with ‘Bharat Ke Saath’ type of messaging,” says Chandramouli.

However, Srinivasan explains that the claims made via marketing need to be believable and credible. "It would be silly to assume that consumers are gullible to go just with a 'Made in India' label in marketing,” he says.

It is pertinent to note that OnePlus launched its new model OnePlus 8 Pro a few days back which was sold out within minutes despite the boycott of Chinese products sentiment on social media platforms.

Related Topics:Anti-china Lava MadeInIndia Micromax

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Brands

Netflix India names Rekha Rane director of films and series marketing

Streaming giant bets on a seasoned marketer who helped build Amazon and Netflix into household names

Published

3 weeks ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Netflix has put a proven brand builder at the helm of its films and series marketing in India, naming Rekha Rane as director in a move that signals sharper focus on audience growth and cultural cut-through in one of its most hotly contested markets.

Rane steps into the role after seven years at Netflix, where she has quietly shaped how the platform sells stories to India. Her latest promotion, effective February 2026, crowns a run that spans brand, slate and product marketing across originals, licensed content and new verticals such as games.

A strategic marketing and communications professional with roughly 15 years’ experience, Rane has spent much of her career building technology-led consumer businesses and new categories, notably e-commerce and subscription video on demand. She was part of the early push that introduced Amazon.in, Prime Video and Netflix to Indian homes, then helped turn them into everyday brands.

At Netflix, she most recently served as head of brand and slate marketing for India from March 2024 to February 2026, leading teams across media and marketing for global and local content portfolios. Before that, as manager for original films and series marketing, she led IP creation and go-to-market strategy for titles including Guns and Gulaabs, Kaala Paani, The Railway Men* and The Great Indian Kapil Show, spanning both binge and weekly-release formats.

Her earlier Netflix roles covered product discovery and promotion in India and integrated campaign strategy to drive conversations around the content slate, product awareness and brand-equity metrics.

Before Netflix, Rane logged more than three years at Amazon in brand marketing roles in Bengaluru. There she handled national and regional campaigns for Amazon.in, worked on customer assistance programmes in growth geographies and contributed to the go-to-market strategy for the launch of Prime Video India.

Her career began well away from streaming. At Reliance Brands in Mumbai, she worked on retail marketing for Diesel and Superdry. A stint at Leo Burnett saw her work on primary research for P&G Tide, mapping Indian shoppers’ paths to purchase. Earlier still, at Orange in the United Kingdom, she rose from sales assistant to store manager, running a team and owning monthly P&L for a retail outlet.

The arc is telling. As global streamers fight for attention in a crowded Indian market, executives who understand both mass retail behaviour and digital habit-building are prized. Rane’s career sits at that intersection.

For Netflix, the bet is simple: in a market spoilt for choice, sharp marketing can still tilt the screen. And with Rane now leading the charge, the streamer is signalling it wants not just viewers, but fandom.

Brands

Orient Beverages pops the fizz with steady Q3 gains and rising profits

Kolkata-based beverage maker reports stronger revenues and profits for December quarter.

Published

3 weeks ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: A fizzy quarter with a steady aftertaste that’s how Orient Beverages Limited, the company that manufactures and distributes packaged drinking water under the brand name Bisleri closed the December 2025 period, as the Kolkata-based drinks maker reported improved revenues and a healthy rise in profits, signalling operational stability in a competitive beverage market.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, Orient Beverages posted standalone revenue from operations of Rs 39.98 crore, up from Rs 36.42 crore in the previous quarter and Rs 33.53 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 42.24 crore, reflecting consistent demand and stable pricing across its beverage portfolio.

Profit before tax for the quarter came in at Rs 3.47 crore, a sharp improvement from Rs 1.31 crore in the September quarter and Rs 0.39 crore a year ago. After accounting for tax expenses of Rs 0.79 crore, the company reported a net profit of Rs 2.68 crore, nearly three times the Rs 0.99 crore recorded in the preceding quarter.

On a nine-month basis, the momentum remained intact. Revenue from operations for the period ended December 31, 2025 rose to Rs 117.66 crore, compared with Rs 106.95 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net profit for the nine months climbed to Rs 5.51 crore, more than double the Rs 2.18 crore reported in the same period of the previous financial year.

The consolidated numbers told a similar story. For the December quarter, consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 45.06 crore, while profit after tax came in at Rs 2.06 crore. For the nine-month period, consolidated revenue touched Rs 133.57 crore, with net profit of Rs 4.49 crore, underscoring the group’s improving profitability trajectory.

Operating expenses remained largely controlled, with cost of materials, employee benefits and other expenses broadly aligned with revenue growth. The company continued to operate within a single reportable segment beverages simplifying its cost structure and reporting framework.

The unaudited financial results were reviewed by the Audit Committee and approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting held on 7 February 2026. Statutory auditors carried out a limited review and reported no material misstatements in the results.

In a market where margins are often squeezed by input costs and competition, Orient Beverages’ latest numbers suggest the company has found a reliable rhythm not explosive, but steady enough to keep the fizz alive.

Brands

BCCL profit jumps 53 per cent in FY25 as tax bill shrinks

Revenue rises 4.3 per cent to Rs 10,209.33 crore while deferred tax gain lifts bottom line sharply

Published

3 weeks ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

NEW DELHI: Bennett, Coleman and Company (BCCL) has posted a sparkling set of financial results for the year ended 31 March 2025, proving that there is still plenty of ink and gold left in the ledger.

Revenue from operations climbed a steady 4.3 per cent, reaching Rs 10,209.33 crore compared to Rs 9,786.44 crore the previous year. When you sprinkle in other income, which rose 8.9 per cent to Rs 949.36 crore, the total income for the media behemoth hit a healthy Rs 11,158.69 crore.

While the income grew at a modest pace, the bottom line tells a far more dramatic story. The real headline is the 53 per cent surge in annual profit. How did they pull off such a feat? While Profit Before Tax (PBT) saw a gentle nudge upward of 2.7 per cent to Rs 1,610.00 crore, it was a vanishing act by the taxman that really did the trick.

Total tax expenses plummeted by 32.4 per cent, dropping from Rs 468.76 crore down to Rs 316.97 crore. This was largely thanks to a swing in deferred tax, moving from an expense of Rs 156.02 crore in FY24 to a benefit of Rs 39.44 crore this year.

Total income rose from Rs 10,658.55 crore in FY24 to Rs 11,158.69 crore in FY25, marking a 4.7 per cent increase. Total expenses grew at a slower pace, up 3.0 per cent from Rs 9,306.06 crore to Rs 9,581.45 crore. Profit before tax inched up 2.7 per cent, moving from Rs 1,567.02 crore to Rs 1,610.00 crore. However, the standout figure was net profit, which jumped sharply by 53.0 per cent, climbing from Rs 1,042.03 crore in FY24 to Rs 1,594.73 crore in FY25.

Despite the rising costs of doing business across the globe, BCCL kept a tight grip on the purse strings. Total expenses rose by just 3.0 per cent to Rs 9,581.45 crore. By keeping costs lower than the rate of income growth, the company ensured that the final figure, a net profit of Rs 1,594.73 crore, was nothing short of a front-page sensation.

In a world of shifting digital tides, it seems the BCCL ship is not just steady, but sailing into significantly wealthier waters.