Falling rupee to make Indian smartphones costlier

The falling Indian currency is proving to be a major cause of concern for the country right now. In fact, the situation is so worrying that one fears that the commodities that are already expensive will get costlier.

Without a doubt, several sectors are likely to bear the brunt of the weakening rupee, and as much as you’d hate to know it, the smartphone you’ve probably been eyeing for a while now may just get costlier. The Economic Times confirms that the present situation is likely to make low-cost phones costlier. Worse still will be the predicament of entry-level and mid-level smartphone makers owing to the stiffening competition in the top-level and feature phones segment in the country. 

Will you still  be able to buy it? (Image credit: Getty Images)

Lava, one of the popular smartphone manufacturing brands in the country, has confirmed that it will hike the prices of feature phones and smartphones by at least 10 percent. The confirmation came from the company’s co-founder and director SN Rai, who was further quoted by the daily as saying that they decided so to protect their margins against the weakening rupee. Rai added that their margins have taken a hit by 10-15 percent already.

Karbonn, another popular brand, also confirmed that it will be increasing prices by 5-10 percent within this week across its handset portfolio. Micromax, though, is currently gauging the situation and has confirmed with ET that it will raise the prices if the rupee falls any lower from existing levels.

However, you can breathe easy if what you were eyeing is an iPhone or a BlackBerry 10 device, for there doesn’t seem to be any price revision coming in for those handsets. As for the other biggies in the market – Samsung, HTC, Nokia, and Sony – the report has suggested that Samsung, HTC and Sony are “watching the rupee situation carefully".