Indian wearables market to grow stronger in 2021: Noise CEO

New Delhi: Over the past few months, the wearables market in India has seen the balance shift in favour of Indian companies. Delhi-based BoAt Lifestyle became the number one brand in earbuds (TWS) in September while Gurugram-based Noise was the leading smartwatch brand in both June and September quarter.

Founded in 2018 by two brothers Gaurav Khatri and Amit Khatri, Noise currently has over 19 products in smart wearable and audio categories.

Demand for products in both has been strong during the year, more so after the pandemic. The pandemic also created more awareness about health and fitness.

Noise saw a 100% year-on-year (YoY) growth and double digit month-on-month (MoM) since the pandemic began. The company sold over 100,000 smartwatches on an average per month during the year, and are aiming to double the numbers in 2021.

“The way health and hygiene have become critical for everyone post covid-19, wearables segment will grow more. Going forward wearables will have more features that will become part of daily lifestyle,” said Gaurav Khatri, CEO, Noise.

In addition to smartwatches, Noise has also seen growth in the earbuds category and plans to launch more entry level products in the category. The company claims to have sold over 10,000 units of Noise Air Buds TWS on the day of the launch.

Noise’s market share in the smartwatch category grew to 28.5% in September quarter from 25.6% in June quarter, as per International Data Corporation (IDC).

“It took us over two years to make the wearable technology stable and deliver a product that makes sense for Indian users. The fact that we sell more than 30% of our products through our own website also helped us understand consumer needs better,” added Khatri.

Khatri said that the company launched multiple products in the range of ₹3,500 to ₹6,500, where most consumers are right now.

Noise reached the top of the leaderboard by beating Chinese brands such as Realme and Huami, known for their aggressive pricing. Though product placement and understanding user requirements were important, Khatri agrees that anti-China sentiments did play a role in their recent growth.

The skirmish between India and Chinese forces at LAC in May-June led to backlash against Chinese brands and products sold by them in India.

With India trying to position itself as a global hub for electronic system design and manufacturing, Noise isn’t ruling out manufacturing and assembling smartwatches and TWS in India. However, it will take much longer as currently there is no ecosystem for accessory manufacturing in India.

“We are expecting some amount of assembling to start in 2021 for our industry, but it will take much longer for the entire ecosystem to be shifted to India. Even when it starts we will partner with bigger manufacturers first as it is not a core focus area for use,” said Khatri.

Right now the company’s core focus is on R&D and software.

Though most of the sales for Noise have so far come through online channels including their own website and third party stories, they are also tarting to leverage offline stores.

Early this month, the company announced partnership with Vijay Sales, a leading electronics retail chain with over 100 stores across India. Noise products will be available at 50 of their retail stores.