Xiaomi smartphone sales in India touch record 2 million

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has said it has sold more than two million smartphones in India in the third quarter that started in July and ended in September. This is the highest ever sales since the company started operations in the country.

The boost in sales is attributed to expansion in the offline market and new online partners, along with a large product portfolio and manufacturing capacity. Altogether these have led to a 150% growth in sales in the last quarter, when compared to the sales during the same quarter in 2015.

"We crossed two million plus sales in one quarter in the third quarter for the first time; compared with our performance last year, we have attained more than 150% growth year-on-year," Manu Jain, head of India operations, told the Economic Times.

"Mi India has been warmly welcomed by users, which is why we are one of the fastest growing brands in the smartphone industry today - one out of every four smartphones sold online was Xiaomi," he added.

According to IDC data, the highest sales have pushed the company to the fourth position with a 7.4% share in the smartphone market in India, falling just behind Micromax. The company's chief executive officer Lei Jun expects Xiaomi to become India's topmost smartphone brand within the next five years.

Xiaomi has been selling one million to 1.5 million smartphones every quarter in 2016. During the Diwali sales, for three days, the company sold 247,000 units through its online site and until 8 October, the overall sales crossed one million.

Alongside launching online stores, Xiaomi increased its reach through online retailers such as Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, Paytm and Tata CLiQ, allowing consumers to buy phones. According to IDC, in the July to September period, Xiaomi was in the second position in online sales after Lenovo. The Redmi 3S and Redmi Note 3 have contributed significantly to the online smartphone market.