In order to support demand in the Middle East and North Africa MENA region, HMD Global, the official licensee of Nokia, has begun export of its made-in India Nokia 105. The company plans to expand its exports to otter markets by exporting to UAE. The company said feature phones continue to draw a loyal base of consumers who want low-cost mobile phones with basic utility, multiple days of battery power and strong build quality. Sanmeet Singh Kochhar, Vice President, India MENA HMD Global, says HMD Global considers India as a strategically important market, not only from a growth potential but also as a key manufacturing hub. We have been manufacturing key devices in India for years and fully support the vision of India's Make in India. We will now start export of our Made in India devices starting with the Nokia 105, the most popular feature phone in the world. The Nokia 105 is manufactured by HDM Global's ODM partner in Sriperumbudur, Chennai. The company has a multi-original-device manufacturing strategy. And is working with other contract manufacturing partners, including FIH, Rising Star RSMI, which makes Nokia-branded feature phones and Lava Mobiles, which makes Nokia-branded smartphones.
The company has been aggressively expanding its product offerings in India and launched Nokia 6310 and NokiaG a few months ago. In September this year, Nokia introduced the C 01 Plus, an affordable Android smartphone, and the Nokia T 20 Tablet for Rs 15,499 last month. Nokia had a 28.2 per cent market share in the feature phone segment in quarter 3 of 2021, according to IDC.