No, Lava is not a Chinese company. It is a multinational technology and consumer electronics company headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. The company specialises in the design, development and manufacturing of consumer electronics, with a special focus on mobile handsets. Lava’s product portfolio includes smartphones, laptops, tablet computers, smartwatches, earphones, headphones and computer hardware. The company is the pioneer of mobile handsets designed in India and is the only Indian brand producing “Made in India” mobile phones.
| Details | Info |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Founder | Vishal Sehgal, Hari Om Rai, Sunil Bhalla and Shailendra Nath Rai |
| Headquarters | Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| CEO | Sunil Raina |
| Sector | Consumer electronics, Technology |
Company History
Lava was founded on 27th March 2009 by Vishal Sehgal, Hari Om Rai, Sunil Bhalla and Shailendra Nath Rai as a mobile handset designer and trading company. The company launched its own branded feature phones in the year 2010. Subsequently, Lava entered into a strategic partnership with Google to develop Android devices in India.
In the year 2012, Lava launched Xolo X900, a smartphone model featuring Intel processor. Thus, it became the first Indian brand to launch an intel-powered smartphone. By the year 2014, Lava had become one of the top five mobile brands in India, with revenue crossing 2000 crore rupees. However, intense competition from Chinese smartphone brands led to a decline in its market share, with the company shifting focus to feature phones.
In the 2016-18 period, Lava became one of the top three feature phone brands in India. The company launched “Made in India” 4G feature phones. Lava re-entered the smartphone market with the launch of 5G-focused smartphones under AGNI Series.
Current Status
Lava holds around 2-3% of the share in the overall mobile phone market in India. However, its share in the feature phone segment is 25%. Its manufacturing facility at Noida has a monthly capacity of 1million devices. Furthermore, the company has its own mobile devices design centre, which is also the first of its kind in India.
Lava has a robust offline network of more than 60,000 retail outlets. It also exports to numerous countries, including Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, USA, UAE, Vietnam, Peru, Qatar, Burundi, Oman, Sudan, Ghana, Switzerland, Israel, Ireland and Saudi Arabia.
Future Outlook
Lava aims to scale its current domestic market share of 2-3% to 25% in the next 3-5 years, while expanding globally to challenge Chinese dominance. The company is set to enter United Kingdom in the year 2026 by launching its AGNI series of smartphones in the country. Lava aims to increase its annual production capacity to over 40 million units.
