Struggling to retain its market share which of late has shrunk considerably the Finland-based mobile handset manufacturer Nokia, is now betting big on India to regain the business momentum. The company’s market share has dropped below 30 percent for the first time. 

The world's largest mobile handset manufacturer has said it would fill the gaps in product portfolio including entering into dual-SIM technology, as a solution for its Indian customers to increase the sales.

The company reported a drop in market share to below 30 per cent for the first time in over a decade during the first quarter ended March, 2011. The market share in India also took a hit last year, losing the lower segment market to other organised and unorganised sector players.

The company would launch its first dual-SIM handset by the end of first half of the year 2011, as part of regaining its momentum, according to a company official.

"We did not have a presence in the dual-SIM category, which had its impact on our market performance. However, we are catching up with this and would launch the first dual-SIM product catering the lower segment of the market by end of this quarter," said a spokesperson of Nokia India Pvt Ltd.

According to reports, the company's market share in India fell from 64 per cent in 2008-09 to 52.2 per cent in 2009-10. "We took some time to enter into dual-SIM category, as it needs research and we had to change the software,” added the official.

The company has completed five years of manufacturing operation in its Chennai facility and has produced 50 crore handsets within the period, said Prakash Katama, director Chennai factory operations, Nokia India. Out of this, almost 50 per cent of the products catered to exports.

The company has so far invested $ 285 million in the Chennai facility, while its component suppliers in India invested around $ 500 million in their facilities. Around 30 per cent of the components are localised and the rest of 70 per cent are imported. The company is developing an ecosystem to enable more component vendors to set up facilties in the region, as part of efforts for increasing localisation, said Katama.