Samsung India profit drops 58%, but turns $10-billion company

Samsung India Electronics’ consolidated net profit fell over 58 per cent to ~1,540.5 crore in 2018-19, according to a regulatory filing.

The firm had posted a net profit of ~3,712.8 crore in the financial year 2017-18. However, the firm’s total income rose 20 per cent to ~73,085.9 crore in FY19 from ~61,065.6 crore in the previous financial year, according to the documents filed by the company to the Registrar of Companies (ROC). Samsung India competes with the likes of Xiaomi, Oneplus, and LG in India.

With this, the mobile phone and consumer durables major has crossed the $10-billion income milestone in the Indian consumer electronics market. E-mails sent to Samsung India did not elicit a reponse.

Samsung India’s revenue from operations in 2018-19 stood at ~70,627.7 crore, a rise of 19 per cent as compared with ~59,370.9 crore in the previous fiscal year.

Over 60 per cent of the revenue from operations for the South Korean conglomerate came from mobile phones (~43,087.98 crore), while the audio visual segment (television and cameras) and the home appliances category (washing machines, refrigerators and air conditioner) accounted for ~5,015.7 crore and ~7,408.2 crore, respectively.

Samsung has been witnessing strong competition in the mobile phone space from players such as Xiaomi (mass segment) and Oneplus (premium segment).

Earlier this year, Samsung had launched its online-only M series and had said it was confident of clocking doubledigit growth in the hypercompetitive Indian smartphone market.

According to research firm IDC, Xiaomi led the smartphone shipment tally with 27.1 per cent share, followed by Samsung (18.9 per cent), Vivo (15.2 per cent), Realme (14.3 per cent) and Oppo (11.8 per cent) in the July-september quarter that saw a record shipment of 46.6 million units.

During the financial year 2018-19, Samsung India saw its total expenses go up by over 27 per cent to ~70,227.8 crore as against ~55,283.8 crore.