India's Micromax, once a rising brand, struggles

Mumbai

A YEAR ago, Micromax vaulted past Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to become India's leading smartphone brand. Today, its market share has nearly halved, several top executives have resigned, and the company is looking for growth outside India.

In Micromax's slide to second place is a tale of the promise and peril of India's booming but hyper-competitive smartphone industry.

India is the world's fastest-growing smartphone market. Shipments of smartphones jumped 29 per cent to 103 million units last year.

Rapid growth has helped nurture a crop of local brands, led by Micromax, that outsourced production to Chinese manufacturers. Now, as Samsung r…