Shipments of TVs in the Indian market grew by 15 per cent to 15 million units in 2019, which is the highest-ever, according to a report by Counterpoint Research.
The growth was driven mainly by budget smart TVs with 32-inch screen size in the sub-USD 150 price band, it added.
Though Korean electronics major Samsung continues to lead the overall TV market, the emerging smart TV segment is being cornered by the newer players such as Xiaomi and TCL, the research firm said.
Xiaomi is now the leader in the smart TV segment with 40 per cent growth in 2019, Counterpoint said in its latest analysis on the Indian TV market.
"Samsung continues to lead the overall TV market but the emerging smart TV segment is being cornered by the newer players," the firm's Research Analyst Debasish Jana said.
"Smart TV was the fastest-growing segment up 25 per cent YoY. The smart TV market in India was mostly driven by brands like Xiaomi, Samsung and emerging tail brands such as TCL, Vu and others, which are leveraging their growing channel presence both online and offline to target the new users and upgrade users," he said.
Brands like Xiaomi, TCL and VU have been expanding over the last few years taking on market leaders as Samsung. LG, Sony, and Panasonic, Jana said.
Popular brands like Samsung, LG and Sony are experiencing a decrease in their non-smart TV business, while small brands such as BPL, Sansui and others are still banking on the non-smart TV segment that mainly caters to the rural market, B2B segment or a second bedroom TV in many cases.
According to Senior Analyst Karn Chauhan, India is one of the largest markets in the world with more than 200 million potential TV households and it is still under-penetrated which makes it a more attractive growth market.
"Though affordability and value for money are the key growth drivers. The new crop of brands such as Xiaomi, TCL and others are tapping their existing relationships with e-commerce channels such as Flipkart, Amazon, etc to successfully distribute the TVs affordably with a direct-to-consumer model, he said.
According to the report, LED TVs still account for more than 90 per cent of the market in India, while rest are from OLED and QLED TV segment.
"LG's share has taken a hit due to lower than expected performance in the non-smart TV market," said report.
While Sony's overall TV shipments declined 14 per cent, smart TVs on the other hand helped it to post 3 per cent annual growth.
"TCL made 110 per cent YoY growth this year. Its smart TV business grew even more with a 186 per cent YoY increase, thanks to its affordable smart TV," it said.
Brands like Kodak and Thomson made an "impressive 40 per cent YoY growth" in the market, while VU and BPL have recorded 16 per cent and 35 per cent growth respectively.
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