印度手機廠商呼籲政府幫忙應對中國對手

India’s smartphone makers are seeking government action after a dramatic loss of market share to deep-pocketed Chinese rivals, who have been taking the country’s mobile market by storm with aggressive pricing and marketing campaigns.

在被財大氣粗的中國競爭對手搶走大塊市場份額後，印度智能手機制造商正尋求讓印度政府採取相應的行動。中國智能手機制造商一直在以激進的定價和營銷攻勢，在印度手機市場攻城略地。

Homegrown companies such as Micromax and Intex had grown to dominate the Indian mobile market, building strong local brands while relying heavily on product designers and component suppliers in China.

Micromax和Intex等印度本土企業經過發展，曾主導了印度的手機市場。它們打造了強大的本土品牌，但嚴重依賴中國的產品設計者和零部件供應商。

But over the past year, Chinese smartphone makers such as Xiaomi, Lenovo and Oppo have launched an intense assault on India, where their market share grew to 46 per cent in the final quarter of 2016 from 14 per cent a year earlier, according to Counterpoint Research. Indian brands’ share fell from 54 per cent to 20 per cent during the same period.

過去一年裏，小米(Xiaomi)、聯想(Lenovo)和OPPO等中國智能手機制造商向印度市場發起了猛烈突擊。Counterpoint Research的數據顯示，2016年最後一季度，中國智能手機制造商在印度的市場份額已從一年前的14%上升至46%。同一時期內，印度品牌的市場份額從54%滑落至20%。

“The government should be more supportive of their people,” Narendra Bansal, founder of Intex Technologies, the second-biggest Indian smartphone brand by sales, told the Financial Times. “Every child needs hand-holding by their parents.”

以銷量計的印度第二大智能手機品牌Intex Technologies的創始人納倫德拉?班薩爾(Narendra Bansal)向英國《金融時報》表示：“政府應給予他們的人民更多支持。每個孩子都需要他們的父母扶一把。”

Mr Bansal called for “anti-dumping duties” on Chinese handsets, similar to those imposed on low-priced steel imports from the country. He argued that supplementary levies could be imposed even for handsets assembled by Chinese companies in India, to compensate for the financial support that those groups have received from Beijing.

班薩爾呼籲對中國手機徵收“反傾銷稅”——類似於對從中國進口的低價鋼材徵收的那些稅。他聲稱，即便對中國企業在印度組裝的手機，也可徵收附加關稅，以抵消這些企業從中國政府那裏獲得的經濟支持。

Industry leaders have met government officials in recent weeks to outline their concerns, according to one person with direct knowledge of the talks.

據一位直接瞭解相關討論的人士稱，行業領袖們已在近幾周與政府官員舉行了會晤，大致談了他們的顧慮。

Beyond pricing, executives are alarmed by the huge scale of an ongoing Chinese advertising drive: on billboards across the country, Bollywood heart-throb Deepika Padukone can be seen clutching an Oppo handset, while Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli gazes at a phone from Shenzhen-based Gionee.

除了定價以外，行業高管們還對中國企業正在展開的廣告攻勢的巨大規模感到擔憂：在遍及全印度的廣告牌上，都可看到寶萊塢大衆情人迪皮卡?帕杜科內(Deepika Padukone)手握OPPO手機、印度板球隊隊長維拉?科利(Virat Kohli)凝視一款深圳金立(Gionee)手機的畫面。

The Chinese companies’ focus on India reflects the huge recent growth of its smartphone market. Last year, 109m smartphones were shipped in the country, according to IDC, well more than double the number three years before.

中國企業聚焦印度市場，反映出印度智能手機市場近期的巨幅增長。據IDC稱，去年印度智能手機發貨量達1.09億部，是三年前的兩倍以上。

“Their spending is too high,” said Pradeep Jain, founder of Karbonn Mobile, which once ranked third in the Indian market but, like other local brands, has now dropped out of the top five. “The government should do something otherwise it’s a loss for industry, and a loss for the government also.”

“他們的支出太高了，”Karbonn Mobile的創始人普拉迪普?賈殷(Pradeep Jain)表示，“政府應該做點什麼，否則不僅是行業的損失，也是政府的損失。”Karbonn Mobile曾在印度市場位列第三，但與其他本土品牌一樣，如今它也跌出了前五名。

“The China ecosystem historically came up because of a lot of subsidies and incentives from the Chinese government,” said Shubhajit Sen, chief marketing officer at Micromax, the biggest Indian phonemaker by sales.

“過去，中國的生態系統能夠發展起來，是因爲中國政府提供了大量補貼和激勵，”Micromax首席營銷官沙巴吉特?森(Shubhajit Sen)表示。該公司是以銷量計的印度最大手機制造商。

While the Indian government could not replicate this, he argued that it should “reduce the gap between the China ecosystem and the Indian ecosystem”, through steep levies on imported smartphones and components.

儘管印度政府無力如法炮製，但森認爲，印度政府應通過對進口智能手機和零部件徵收高額關稅來“縮小印度生態系統與中國生態系統之間的差距”。

But Neil Shah, an analyst at Counterpoint, said that Chinese companies have sharply increased their local assembly of phones in India. This now accounts for about 75 per cent of the handsets they sell in the country, he estimated — roughly the same as for the Indian brands, meaning that any crackdown on imports would hit the latter just as hard as their better-funded Chinese rivals.

但Counterpoint分析師尼爾?沙阿(Neil Shah)表示，中國企業大幅增加了在印度本地的手機組裝。他預計，本地組裝的手機如今佔中國企業在印所售手機的75%左右——差不多與印度品牌的銷量相當，這意味着任何打壓進口手機的舉措，在打擊到資金更加雄厚的中國競爭對手的同時，都將給印度手機制造企業帶來同樣沉重的打擊。

“Actually the Indian brands would be shooting themselves in the feet,” he said.

“事實上，印度品牌會搬起石頭砸自己的腳，”沙阿表示。