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    Samsung overtakes Maruti as India's largest consumer-facing MNC

    Synopsis

    Samsung India’s revenue from operations in FY21 surged marginally by 0.5% to Rs 75,886 crore, as per filings made to the Registrar of Companies and accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler.

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    Samsung India Electronics overtook Maruti Suzuki India as the largest consumer facing multinational company in the country in 2020-21, as per latest regulatory filings.

    Samsung India’s revenue from operations in FY21 surged marginally by 0.5% to Rs 75,886 crore, as per filings made to the Registrar of Companies and accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler.

    In contrast, Maruti Suzuki’s revenue dipped by 7% at Rs 70,333 crore in the period under review due to lower unit sales with one quarter lost due to Covid-19 lockdown. The country’s largest car maker domestic sales volume in FY21 was lower by 6.8% and exports were lower by 5.9% as compared to 2019-20, as per its earnings release.

    The gap between sales of Maruti Suzuki and Samsung India was narrowing in the last few years and in 2019-20 it was around Rs 200 crore.

    Industry executives said the lockdown did not impact Samsung unlike Maruti and several other companies and sectors due to the surge in demand for smartphones and appliances for the rest part of the year. This was aided by the shift to work and education from home due to the pandemic, consumers buying large screen television sets to fulfill their entertainment needs and bigger capacity appliances.

    Samsung’s mobile phone business is also way bigger than India’s largest packaged consumer goods firm Hindustan Unilever or conglomerate ITC Ltd’s sales.

    The mobile phone business of Samsung grew by 6% year-on-year in FY21 at Rs 55,397 crore whereby its contribution to total sales went up to 73%, a jump of three percentage points over FY20. HUL’s sales in FY 21 was Rs 45,996 crore, while that of ITC was Rs 48,525 crore.

    However, the pace of growth of the mobile phone business slowed down for Samsung last year after posting 21% growth in FY20 and 15% in FY19.

    Samsung India’s net profit also surged by 39% at Rs 4041 crore in FY21 as it managed costs and drove sales of more premium products. The company in its filings said it is the largest player in the television segment, overall refrigerators along with frost-free and side-by-side range, in tablets and has strengthened the presence in smartphones.

    Rival Xiaomi leads the overall smartphone space by the total number of units sold, though it lacked behind in sales revenue to Samsung till FY20. Xiaomi’s financials for FY21 are still not yet available.

    In fact, Samsung in the filings indicated that it is amending the company’s Memorandum of Association which will allow it to undertake newer businesses like selling advertising space and create or source content which will be delivered to TV, mobile phones and other connected devices.


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    ( Originally published on Oct 26, 2021 )
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