Apart from endorsing Bollywood stars to promote their brands, smartphone makers are throwing equated monthly instalment (EMI) based schemes in the market to garner better share in the market.

While big players such as Apple and Samsung have taken the lead, local manufacturers such as Lava Mobiles are also planning to come out with similar offers. But, are consumers really latching onto such schemes?

Apple iPhone 4, which costs Rs 26,500, is available for a down payment of Rs 9,990 with zero per cent interest of Rs 2,300 up to 12 months. Similarly, the iPhone 5 that costs Rs 45,500 is available for Rs 3,000 a month EMI at zero per cent interest rate.

“Consumers are happy with such schemes and there are positive responses from them,” Asim Warsi, Vice-President, Samsung Mobile, told Business Line .

The company has 12 months of EMI offers for its Galaxy Note 2, Grand and S III smartphones, all priced above Rs 20,000 at Rs 2,999, Rs 1,790 and Rs 2,483 of per month instalment, respectively, with no down payment.

Nokia India had also started such schemes three years ago and it continued till recently across models with prices starting from Rs 7,000 with zero per cent EMI for three months.

Looking at the good responses, the company said it would start similar schemes from March onwards, for which Nokia India is working on it. Market watchers said the EMI scheme is a way to make high-end phones affordable given that the operator driven subsidy model has not worked in India.

“It looks more like a trend as of now to make the handsets affordable for people who can not spend at one time. Also, some customers are comfortable buying through such schemes even if they have Rs 25,000 cash for a handset as they don’t want to spend in one go,” Anshul Gupta, Principal Research Analyst, Gartner, said. He said as companies are also tying up with banks and credit card companies with zero per cent scheme, everybody is finding it easy to purchase such handsets and in return companies are also getting good sales and local players also planning to start such schemes.

“We do not have any plans as of now, but may come out with such schemes in the near future for our Xolo smartphones,” S.N. Rai, Co-founder and Director, Lava International, said. The company had recently launched Xolo A1000 smartphone priced at Rs 14,000. The footfall at retail outlets are also growing because of such offers for handsets priced above Rs 20,000.

“We do not come out with any offers from our side, but customers are liking such schemes offered by the companies and the traction is picking up,” E.H. Kasturi Rangan, President – Consumer and Digital Products Division, Redington India, said.

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