Indian Mobile Phone Sales Drop For First Time In 20 Years: Study

"With major announcements of new handsets and entry of some new brands happening in a big way in Q4 2014, there wasn't really something very exciting in the market for customers that could push up sales in Q1 2015," said Faisal Kawoosa, lead analyst, Telecom Research at CyberMedia.

"At the same time, a change in duty structure and the longer continuation of Chinese new year festivities which generally conclude by mid-February each year, affected the supply chain and inventories."

In an attempt to push local manufacturing, the government, in a budget announcement, increased the excise duty on mobile handsets to 12.5 percent from 6 percent, pushing the cost of handsets by around 4 percent.

Experts said there were two more reasons: First, sales have fluctuated for vendors, with one vendor dominant in one quarter and another in the next. Second, as Kawoosa put it, "a maniacal focus" on online flash sales.

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