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Tag: Xiaomi

  • Xiaomi launches ‘Tech Ka Shubh Muhurat’ campaign with new festive deals

    Xiaomi launches ‘Tech Ka Shubh Muhurat’ campaign with new festive deals

    Mumbai: Xiaomi India has kick-started a festive campaign “Diwali with Mi-Tech Ka Shubh Muhurat” in a fun and quirky way. The campaign will be amplified across digital, online, social, and print platforms.

    In this campaign, Xiaomi India encourages consumers to not buy tech yet and wait for “Tech Ka Shubh Muhurat” through a series of engaging videos, ATL, and BTL activations.

    The campaign is strategized to advise the consumers as friends and encourage them to pause and think about why India’s most loved technology brand is asking them to not buy tech yet.

    The quirky campaign films, featuring Xiaomi’s employees and print advertisements across various publications, will take this campaign ahead.

    With this campaign, Xiaomi India aims to help consumers to get the best of tech products during this festive period.

    Conceptualised to bring forth the happiness and much-awaited celebrations of the country’s most auspicious festival, this year’s campaign theme ‘Tech Ka Shubh Muhurat’ resonates with the good fortune Diwali brings. It highlights Xiaomi India’s reciprocation of the trust fans have placed in the brand.

    The festive sales will bring forth multiple offers, deals, and discounts for customers as part of the campaign. The offers will be hosted across channels—online partners, Mi.com, and retail stores across the country.

    Talking about the campaign, Xiaomi India chief marketing officer Anuj Sharma said, “This Diwali season we want to help our consumers make an informed decision about their tech purchases. It is the biggest shopping season for consumers, especially for those looking to purchase gifts for family, friends, or for their own consumption. Therefore, with “Don’t buy tech yet!” We want to be transparent and honest with our consumers. We want them to see the entire landscape and not rush into making the wrong decisions, even if it takes a bold move like advising them to not invest in tech just yet. Through the “Diwali with Mi-Tech Ka Shubh Muhurat” campaign, we will be extending incredible offers to our fans and users to buy their favourite gadgets-smartphones, smart TVs, speakers, audio peripherals, tablets, or any other smart home products.

  • Xiaomi India launches its new campaign #ScreenSahiTohSceneSahi with Anurag Kashyap and Vaani Kapoor

    Xiaomi India launches its new campaign #ScreenSahiTohSceneSahi with Anurag Kashyap and Vaani Kapoor

    Mumbai: Xiaomi announced the launch of its new campaign “# ScreenSahiTohSceneSahi” on Monday, highlighting the significance and impact of the Super Amoled display on the Redmi Note 11 series in a unique way.

    The campaign film has been created in collaboration with DDB Mudra with creatives by Sooraj R. Pillai and Aditi Rao Saxena.

    The campaign film, released across social media platforms, has been conceptualised by the ace director Anurag Kashyap and features renowned Bollywood actress Vaani Kapoor. The campaign video showcases the immersive viewing experience delivered by the Redmi Note 11 Series Super Amoled display.

    Amidst today’s enhanced digital penetration and mobile-first economy, consumers demand an immersive viewing experience like never before. Therefore, Xiaomi India collaborated with storytelling maestro Anurag Kashyap for this video that highlights the fact that great content needs a Super Amoled viewing experience.

    With a two-pronged approach, the creative campaign builds on the message that for the stunning visuals that consumers consume on their smartphones, they deserve a premium viewing experience that can only be enjoyed on a Super Amoled screen because “#ScreenSahiTohSceneSahi.” Secondly, with this creative screenplay, Xiaomi India intends to let all content producers and creators know that ‘we got you’ by providing consumers with device offerings consisting of technologically innovative Super Amoled displays.

    Speaking about the campaign, a Xiaomi India spokesperson said, “Display technology has taken centre stage for smartphone users and continues to be one of the primary parameters in their purchase decisions. As India’s No. 1 smartphone and Smart TV brand, we take pride in the fact that we understand the user’s requirements. With the “#ScreenSahiTohSceneSahi” campaign, we want to educate our consumers on the benefits of superior display technology i.e. Super Amoled display featured in the Redmi Note 11 series. We are excited to partner with master storyteller Anurag Kashyap and Bollywood actress Vaani Kapoor to narrate this with their new-age style of storytelling. We are optimistic that through this campaign we will be able to build a preference for a superior viewing experience with the Redmi Note 11 series.”

    Commenting on this campaign, DDB Mudra senior creative director Sooraj R Pillai said, “Content makers put their heart and soul into their craft. But the way content is consumed today has drastically changed. And that’s where we found an opportunity. The idea was to just call out a simple fact. That is, when someone watches any content on a bad screen, they are not just doing a disservice to their own viewing experience. It’s also a disservice to those who made them.”

  • Chinese smartphone brands Oppo, Vivo India & Xiaomi under tax sleuths’ lens

    Chinese smartphone brands Oppo, Vivo India & Xiaomi under tax sleuths’ lens

    Mumbai: Chinese smartphone makers have once again come under the scanner of Indian agencies for cases of alleged tax evasion. Notices have been issued to Oppo, Vivo India and Xiaomi, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Rajya Sabha recently. The three Chinese mobile phone companies, between them, hold a major share of the Indian smartphone market.

    The Finance Minister said that the department of revenue intelligence (DRI) has issued a notice to Oppo for a total customs duty of Rs 4,389 crore. This is on the grounds that misdeclaration of certain goods leads to a short payment in customs duty.

    The duty evasion is about Rs 2,981 crore, Sitharaman said replying to a question in the Upper House.

    “Undervaluation of imported goods for the purpose of payment of customs duty, that we think is an evasion of Rs 1,408 crore,” she said.

    She stated that they came voluntarily to deposit Rs 450 crore, much less than the demand of Rs 4,389 crore.

    Regarding the other companies, she said Xiaomi, which deals with assembling MI mobile phones, has been issued three show-cause notices.

    “The approximate duty liability there is about Rs 653 crore. For the three show cause notices that have been issued, they have deposited only Rs 46 lakh,” the minister said.

    She informed Rajya Sabha that a demand notice has been issued for Rs 2,217 crore for which they have deposited Rs 60 crore as a voluntary deposit.

    “Besides these, the ED is looking at 18 companies that were established by the same group as Vivo, and there they have voluntarily remitted Rs 62 crore as deposits, but the parent company outside of India has total sales of 1.25 lakh crore.

    “Of the Rs 1.25 lakh crore total sales, Vivo has transferred through these 18 companies huge amounts of funds, and it is believed that Vivo India has, in turn, remitted 0.62 lakh crore to its parent company, which is outside India,” Sitharaman said.

    In her written reply, the finance minister said a show cause notice demanding Rs 4,403.88 crore has been served on Oppo Mobiles India based on the investigation conducted by the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI).

    Five cases of customs duty evasion have been booked against Xiaomi Technology India, she said.

    “During the period 2019 to 2022, in respect of the central board of indirect taxes & customs (CBIC), cases against 43 other such companies have been booked.”

    “‘As regards to the central board of direct taxes (CBDT), investigation directorates have undertaken search and seizure actions in cases of five groups pertaining to the telecom sector, in which tax evasion has been detected,” Sitharaman added.

    Meanwhile, the market share of these three brands, which make up the top five smartphone brands in India, has been steadily growing, despite the scrutiny. Xiaomi remained the market leader in 2022 with a share of 24 per cent, followed by Vivo with 18 per cent share and Oppo with a ten per cent share, according to a report by Cyber Media Research (CMR). The three brands, along with Realme and Korean smartphone major Samsung, account for nearly three quarters of India’s smartphone market.

  • Xiaomi and Travelxp partner to bring 4K HDR travel content to its TV homes

    Xiaomi and Travelxp partner to bring 4K HDR travel content to its TV homes

    Mumbai: Xiaomi PatchWall users can now enjoy content from the travel channel, Travelxp, as the 4K HDR content provider has signed onto the PatchWall interface and will distribute over 1000+ hours of travel content through its PatchWall integration.

    Xiaomi’s users will have access to Travelxp’s global travel content library through the PatchWall launcher on their Xiaomi smart TV sets. They will be able to discover Travelxp’s content programming from Xiaomi’s curated discovery platform PatchWall, and watch popular food shows like Strictly Street and Thali, to global destination features such as Backpack Thailand and Boarding Pass Finland.

    Xiaomi sold over seven million TVs in the last three years leading up to September 2021. Since the launch of PatchWall in 2019, the company has also made it easier for its users to discover content from over 30+ OTT platforms in India.

    Xiaomi India category lead- TVs Eshwar Nilakantan said, “With the OTT market going strong and the relationship between consumers and services constantly evolving, we at Xiaomi India are focused on making content discovery easier for our customers. With Xiaomi and Redmi TVs, our vision is to provide a unique interface for each user and offer a wide selection with our dedicated focus on building PatchWall. By partnering with Travelxp, we are excited to bring a wide variety of 4K travel content to PatchWall users.”

    Travelxp launched the world’s first 4K HDR Travel OTT through Travelxp RED, which is designed as the one-stop-shop for frequent travelers. “With Xiaomi’s push into 4K televisions, our content availability through PatchWall is a huge boost to our ambition of showcasing travel in 4K HDR to the Indian market, and we are excited to announce that at launch, we will be multi-lingual with our entire content library dubbed in Hindi, Tamil and Bengali.” said Travelxp CEO Tanay Chothani.

    As the OTT market in India expands to over 1000+ billion dollars, this integration is a further shot in the arm for India’s growing video streaming space. The service is available at a subscription price of Rs. 999/year.

  • Pitaara TV launches multi-regional streaming platform Chaupal

    Pitaara TV launches multi-regional streaming platform Chaupal

    Mumbai: Punjabi TV channel Pitaara TV on Saturday announced the global launch of its streaming service platform Chaupal. It will provide access to quality content for entertainment in three regional languages- Punjabi, Haryanvi, and Bhojpuri. The streaming service has been launched globally, across markets and devices.

    Some of Chaupal’s key markets include the United States of America (USA), Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Mauritius, and the European Union (EU).

    The streaming service will provide original and exclusive movies, web series, podcasts, music, documentaries, and entertainment-based content from India and around the world to its viewers.

    Commenting on the development, Pitaara TV’s director Sandeep Bansal said, “This is a proud moment for all of us who have worked so hard for the last three years to bring ‘Chaupal’ to life. Chaupal, as the name suggests, is a gathering of like-minded people who come together for a good time, so we wanted to create a platform that reminded people of their roots, where content could be watched in all the regional languages with family or friends.”

    “Chaupal will keep surprising its consumers with incredible storytelling and talent turning imagination into reality,” Bansal added.  

    “The word ‘Chaupal’ signifies a community space where people gather for a specific purpose. Pitaara TV’s OTT is also one such platform where people speaking different languages and residing in different states and countries will come together to experience endless entertainment in the most affordable way possible. ‘Chaupal: Entertainment Beyond Boundaries’ is an endeavor to make online entertainment truly seamless for audiences anywhere, anytime”, the channel said in a statement.

    The launch was accompanied by the release of 12 originals (films and web series), alongside 50 exclusives and over 300 film offerings. Included in the originals list are “Panchhi” (thriller), “Vardaat” (murder mystery), “Range” (action/crime series), “Kala Shehar (film), Teri Meri Nahi Nibhni (rom-com film), Khich Jatta Khich (episodic), Main vs Tu (film/family drama), Please Kill Me” (suspense film), “Malaal” (Hariyanvi crime film), “London in Haryana” (Haryanvi web series), “Lakhimchand Haryanvi” (Haryanvi film), and “Chapper Phadke” (Haryanvi film). More releases such as “Murabba”, “Chandigarh Waale”, “Tunka Tunka”, “Zila Sngroor”, “Dustbin”, “Shikari”, “Shahi Majra”, “Umran Ch Ki Rakheya”, “Seep”, “Miss Tanya”, and “Shagan” are lined up.

     Hopeful about Chaupal’s potential, popular brands such as Xiaomi and Paul Merchants have partnered with it.

    MI India’s category lead –smart TV, Eshwar Nilakantan remarked, “With Mi TV’s, our vision is to provide a unique interface for each user, and this comes to life with our dedicated focus on building PatchWall for TVs in India. Mi TVs have become India’s favourite smart TVs in no time and keeping our users in mind, we have made it our resolution to enhance the entertainment experience by providing varied content. We are proud to announce our partnership with OTT platform Chaupal which widens our rich content library for all our Punjabi, Haryanvi, and Bhojpuri users. This is the first time a global TV brand has taken the initiative to understand the power of Indian vernacular entertainment and partner with a platform to provide exclusive early access to Mi TV users.”

  • Truecaller appoints Jijendran Ravindran as VP, global business development

    Truecaller appoints Jijendran Ravindran as VP, global business development

    Mumbai: Caller ID app Truecaller has announced the appointment of Jijendran Ravindran as vice president (VP) of global business development. 

    In his new role at Truecaller, Ravindran will be working towards expanding business and growth across markets and report to the chief commercial officer, Kari Krishnamurthy.
    Ravindran joins Truecaller from Xiaomi, where he was associate director and the lead for MIUI India. He was responsible for managing and driving the overall business strategy for the brand. Prior to Xiaomi, he was heading app partnership for Micromax in India, Sri Lanka, Russia & Bangladesh. He has also been associated with Airtel and Vodafone in the past.

    “I am excited to have JJ on board. And I am confident that he will push our ambitions of having Truecaller in every connected device globally,” said Krishnamurthy welcoming Ravindran. “His extensive experience and accomplishments in his recent past stints will definitely take our efforts to another level.”

    Ravindran has extensive experience of working across varied sectors spanning telecom operators, smartphone brands & start-ups. His rich experience of over 16 years includes new partnerships, strategy, business development, operations, marketing, advertising & customer insights. He brings to the table an innate knack for understanding consumers, a bias for action, and people development experience.

    “I feel both honoured and humbled on being appointed by Truecaller,” said Ravindran on his appointment. “I firmly believe in Truecaller’s mission and it has been a service I have relied on myself for many years now. I’m also excited about the journey ahead.”

  • Amazon Prime Video launches #TheFamilyManJobHunt

    Amazon Prime Video launches #TheFamilyManJobHunt

    KOLKATA: As we inch closer to the release of the new season of the eagerly awaited Amazon original series – The Family Man, Amazon Prime Video has launched an innovative engagement initiative with India Inc. and startups to stir-up the excitement quotient for the series.

    Titled #TheFamilyManJobHunt, this unique influencer campaign follows Srikant Tiwari’s (Manoj Bajpayee’s character in the series) quest for a new job, with him being interviewed by business stalwarts like Ritesh Agarwal, founder & chief executive officer of OYO Hotels & Homes, Manu Kumar Jain, vice president of Xiaomi, Kabeer Biswas, chief executive officer & co-founder of Dunzo and Ankur Warikoo, co-founder of Nearbuy. The engagement initiative picks up from last season’s story-arc where Srikant faces an uphill task of finding a decent desk job for himself, having just quit TASC (a fictitious arm of the Indian intelligence agency) to spend time with his family.

    Kick-starting the digital campaign, lead actor Manoj Bajpayee took to his social media to share that Srikant Tiwari has finally chosen to be an ideal Family Man and is on the lookout for a corporate job. His post triggered a round of fun and quirky conversations among fans, celebrities and social media influencers who replied to his tweets with bizarre job recommendations. Industry leaders like Ankur Warikoo (Nearbuy), Kabeer Biswas (Dunzo), Ritesh Agarwal (OYO) and Manu Kumar Jain (Xiaomi) are seen joining in the fun banter as well, proposing to interview Srikant. What follows are a series of interesting virtual interviews with these renowned business leaders that has created quite the stir in the corporate world and even amongst internet users.

    Nearbuy co-founder Ankur Warikoo said, “Srikant (Manoj Bajpayee’s character in the show) is a super talented guy. (I) would have loved for him to be part of Nearbuy. Not sure why the reference checks aspect of his interview made him get all weird. Love such talent, sad he could not join us!”

    Dunzo CEO & co-founder Kabeer Biswas said, “Working with The Family Man team has been a thrilling experience much like the show itself.  It was a natural extension for Dunzo – through the pandemic, our team has worked to keep Indian citizens safe. No mean-feat, if you think about it! Just like Srikant, we have had to balance multiple priorities. As we continue to deliver essentials across the country, we’re sure that the series will deliver on the intrigue and entertainment it did with the first season. And Srikant, the job offer is always open!” 

    Xiaomi vice president Manu Kumar Jain added, “It was an absolute delight to collaborate with the team of Amazon Prime Video for the upcoming season of The Family Man. It was great to have Srikant interview with us. He promises to be a high performing individual both on reel and in real life much like Mi TV, India’s no. 1 smart TV brand. We are confident that with the passion he has, the new season of The Family Man will continue to be one of the most popular shows amongst the audiences.”

    Amazon Prime Video India, marketing director Sushant Sreeram said, “As India’s much loved video streaming service, we have had the opportunity to build immersive worlds for our viewers with blockbuster series like The Family Man. A big part of building that on-going relationship with our viewers is to bring elements from reel life to real life and vice-versa. Srikant Tiwari (being) on a job-hunt is just that – a much loved character doing something many of us have experienced in real life. We had a ball working with leaders of some of the most exciting startups in the country right now, putting together this fun job-hunt campaign for our customers. Who is going to hire the not-so-minimum guy? Tune in to Amazon Prime Video on the 4th of June to find out!”

  • Apple and Vivo pledge to aid India in Covid relief efforts

    Apple and Vivo pledge to aid India in Covid relief efforts

    NEW DELHI: As India is battling the deadly second wave of Covid2019, smartphone manufacturers Vivo India and Apple have pledged to aid the country in Covid relief efforts. Vivo India has announced that they will donate Rs 2 crore and also help to acquire oxygen concentrators. 

    Last year, Vivo India had donated masks, PPE kits, and 50,000 litres of sanitisers to India’s Covid efforts. The company also expressed its gratitude to frontline healthcare workers who are fighting to curb the spread of the Covid pandemic. The smartphone maker has also urged people to follow strict Covid restrictions to combat the challenge posed by the virus sweeping through the country.

    “In the fight against Covid2019, @Vivo_India stands united with the nation and pledges to donate Rs 2 crores to aid relief efforts and acquiring oxygen concentrators. Together, we can and will get through this,” said Vivo India senior executive Nipun Marya. 

    Apple has also extended support to India during this critical time. Apple CEO Tim Cook took to Twitter to announce that the company will provide help to its Apple family and everyone who is fighting the pandemic. 

    “Amid a devastating rise of Covid cases in India, our thoughts are with the medical workers, our Apple family, and everyone there who is fighting through this awful stage of the pandemic. Apple will be donating to support and relief efforts on the ground,” tweeted Cook. 

    Yesterday, Xiaomi stepped up to donate 1,000 oxygen concentrators worth Rs 3 crore to tackle the Covid crisis in India.

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has pledged that the company will “continue to use its voice, resources, and technology to aid relief efforts, and support the purchase of critical oxygen concentration devices.” 

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that the search engine giant will give Rs 135 crore for medical supplies, organisations supporting high-risk communities, and grants to help spread critical information. 

    Over the last few weeks, India has been devastated by a record surge in Covid2019 cases. The country’s health infrastructure has been stretched to the breaking point, with shortages reported in medical oxygen cylinders, hospitals beds and critical drugs for Covid treatment. The number of reported cases declined slightly on Tuesday, to 323,144 from the peak of 352,991 the day before, bringing the total cases to nearly 17 million with 192,000 deaths.

  • Mi teams up with Baba Sehgal for Diwali campaign

    Mi teams up with Baba Sehgal for Diwali campaign

    NEW DELHI: Smartphone brand Xiaomi ‘Mi’ has teamed up with rapper and musician Harjeet Singh Sehgal, popularly known as Baba Sehgal, for its festive season campaign ‘Diwali with Mi’.

    Baba Sehgal stars in a rap video for the mobile maker. What’s interesting about the clip is that vice president & MD of Mi India Manu Kumar Jain is seen shaking a leg and going head-to-head with Sehgal in a battle of rhymes. In the video, Baba Sehgal says, “Ye hai Manu, mai hu Baba, Bhook lagi hai, let’s go to dhaba. (This is Manu, I am Baba, We’re hungry, Let’s Go to Dhaba.)”

    Jain’s unexpected performance is what makes it for fans of Mi, who cheered the MD for stepping out of his comfort zone and sportingly participating in the video.

    In a LinkedIn post, Jain said: “What’s the role of a CEO? Building new businesses, making long term business plans, building the best possible team, motivating the team to perform the best, creating more leaders? But at #XiaomiIndia, I need to do all of the above and also sing and dance.”

    Jain added that he was convinced by his team to shoot the video and he’s glad for the experience.

    Baba Sehgal and Jain’s double act has proved to be a hit with netizens. Some hailed Jain’s “tremendous energy” and creativity by doing something different and pleasantly surprising the brand’s customers. Others said the campaign was a breakaway from “the stereotypical image of a CEO” and reflected a rich life "beyond the board meetings, PPTs and excel sheets."

    By leveraging the power of social media, Xiaomi is promoting its Diwali campaign and connecting with the masses. Already a renowned name in the Indian smartphone market, the brand clearly knows how to strike a chord with the consumers, as this ad campaign shows.

     

     

  • Micromax aims to make a comeback: Reports

    Micromax aims to make a comeback: Reports

    NEW DELHI: Homegrown smartphone brand Micromax is reportedly planning to make a comeback to the Indian market. This time, the company is banking on the government support, with its Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme which was announced recently. The company said that it would invest Rs 500 crore towards manufacturing and research and development, as per an online report. The brand also plans to launch 20 new phones by the end of the next fiscal.

    The PLI scheme will help boost local manufacturing as part of government’s initiative to make India self-reliant (Aatmanirbhar). The PLI scheme was announced on April 1, 2020, under the National Policy on Electronics 2019 shall extend an incentive of 4% to 6% on incremental sales (over the base year) of goods manufactured in India and covered under target segments, to eligible companies, for a period of five (5) years subsequent to the base year as defined.

    Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma in an interaction with a leading daily said that the company was looking to regain its spot in the smartphone market through the multiple handsets it has planned to launch in the future. He also mentioned that the phone would look to disrupt the market.

    On 15 August, the smartphone brand had also uploaded a teaser across its social media handles captioned “73 years of independence or being in dependence? On our 74th independence day, let’s stop being doosron pe nirbhar and become truly Atmanirbhar. Are you ready to join the revolution with us?”

    Due to the influx of Chinese brands including Xiaomi, Oppo, the homegrown smartphone brands got wiped out of the smartphone market. Reportedly, Xiaomi is currently leading the smartphone market with a 30 per cent market share.