New Delhi, Oct 28 (IANS): As consumer electronics companies face supply chain and semiconductor (or chip) shortages across product categories, Xiaomi India said on Thursday that local manufacturing of its devices like smart TVs has helped the company efficiently handle the surge in demand during the ongoing festive season.

The pandemic brought along unpredictable challenges in terms of supply of components and parts across the spectrum.

According to Eshwar Nilakantan, category lead, Smart TV, Xiaomi India, they have been constantly witnessing supply chain shortages across industries for the last 1.5 years now.

"Despite that, this festive season, we saw an enormous increase in demand from consumers and because of that we were able to sell 2 million smartphones in the first phase of Diwali sale within just 3-4 days," Nilakantan told IANS.

"To bridge the demand-supply gap, this year, we started working towards expanding our local manufacturing capabilities. This festive season, our localisation efforts for Smart TVs helped us to maintain a healthy supply across price segments," he informed.

Currently, 99 per cent of Xiaomi smartphones and 100 of its smart TVs are 'Make in India' brands.

During the first wave of Diwali sales, Xiaomi Smart TVs received a phenomenal response from consumers and Mi fans.

Backed by a strong portfolio including Xiaomi and Redmi TVs, the company recorded a massive 53 times jump in demand for its 4K TVs.

"Xiaomi and Redmi range combined sold a total of 100K Smart TVs across offline and online channel partners in less than three days of festive sale. These festive sales have also helped us hit another milestone of 7 million smart TV's sold till now in the country," Nilakantan said.

During the first wave of Diwali sales, eight out of the top 10 best-selling Smart TVs listed on Amazon were from Xiaomi and Redmi.

The smart TV market in India recorded an extraordinary 65 per cent (on-year) growth in the second quarter (Q2) this year, as per Counterpoint Research's TV tracker.

"There has been a rapid increase in demand for Smart TVs ever since the pandemic due to increased home entertainment consumption, which has made Smart TVs more popular in the country," Nilakantan added.

In 2018, the company entered the Smart TV market in India with Mi TV 4, and has since gained the trust of over 7 million consumers in the country.

"As a brand, we will continue to innovate and bring newer products to the market by offering products with the best specs and highest quality at honest pricing," Nilakantan said.