Ex: Xiaomi recently entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s largest oil lamp. What was the thought that went behind this achievement?
Manu: India is all about festivities and we love celebrating all these festivals with our Mi Fans and consumers. For Durga Puja this year, our intent was to create a ray of hope for our users and Mi Fans across the nation. To bring that light and happiness for all in a grand way, we ignited the world’s largest diya installation as a symbol of a ray of hope for a better tomorrow.
Ex: With 50 lakh smartphones sold in just 7 days, what are your projections for the rest of the festive season?
Manu: As we head towards the end of the year and the start of something better, we wanted to bring the festive season to a close with another incredible offer – the Mi Smart Upgrade which is an assured buyback offering from Mi India.
Ex: What has been the primary driving force behind making Xiaomi India’s No.1 smartphone brand for the third year and counting?
Manu: Being a customer-centric brand, we are always on a lookout for insights that define changing trends, behaviour and requirements of the consumers. In the last 6 years of operations, we have introduced products across price segments, offering features that best suit user requirements.
Ex: With digitization increasing rapidly and wfh culture gaining significance, which products do you think will sell like hotcakes in the coming times?
Manu: With more employees voluntarily opting for work from home in the new normal, we see the demand surging for products that will enable the users to comfortably function from within their homes. Due to the growing dependence on technology during the lockdown period, we witnessed a rise in the usage of smartphones. Smartphones almost served as an essential commodity, be it for work, education or to stay connected in general. We also witnessed an increasing demand for grooming products like our Mi Beard trimmer category that saw over 100% growth during the lockdown. In addition to this, water purifiers and mask categories have also done well and we believe that it will continue to see demand in the market.
Ex: What do you think are the challenges and opportunities ahead for Mi? Where do you see Mi in the next five to ten years?
Manu: At Mi India, we have always been committed to offering innovative and integrated services. Aligned with the same thought, we are not only
creating a local manufacturing base for our smartphones but also developing the base for our entire ecosystem. We have successfully made a name for ourselves as a leading smartphone manufacturer in India. Now, we hope to make the same mark towards our larger ecosystem focused journey. We will focus our efforts more towards establishing a wide range of product portfolios right from Smart TVs to fitness bands and Laptops to the connected IoT ecosystem. Riding on this, the journey will be a challenge and testament to long term strategy for our position in India. The offering will enable users to avail the best value of their old smartphone when they want to upgrade to the latest devices from Redmi and Mi.
Ex: With your recently announced INR 2 crore scholarship, thousands of children will be able to get the education they deserve. What other steps do you plan to take to encourage child education in India?
Manu: We announced the INR 2 crore scholarship in partnership with ‘Buddy4Study’ to enable the student community from underprivileged segments to pursue higher education and empower themselves. In addition to this, we also partnered with ‘Teach For India’ in August and pledged 2500 smartphones worth INR 2 Crores for children from communities that are worst affected by the pandemic.