Q] Your partnership with Bose has given Noise an extra edge. Has the response for the very first product been better than your other products in the market?
These are the best earphones in the country at the given price point. Undoubtedly, the response has been far better than what we have seen so far, however we are not fixated on volumes. In a single day, we crossed 15,000 in sales, plus we got validation from the customer that if we create a good quality product with a great design, that gives a great experience, consumers will pay us the right price for it.
Q] You started with selling smartphone covers, wireless earbuds, smart watches and then recently graduated to the Luna Ring, what’s next?
Luna is a different brand altogether, more health-centric, global-positioned product because ring as a category is much more renowned globally than in India. We are trying to not mix it with Noise where we are still continuing with wearables and audio, no plans to enter another category. However, a lot of innovation is technically possible in these devices, like implementing AI into the hardware as well. We are just gearing up to bring that tech faster than anyone else to our portfolio. In the last few years, what’s changed is that we have been focusing on creating this tech in-house, a lot of R&D is happening in India. For e.g., The Bose product has completely been curated by us. Also, we want to penetrate further into offline, from the current 20,000 stores; in the next one, one and a half years. We are taking it slow internationally but global presence is a big goal.
Q] In 2023, you rose to the top three smartphone watchmakers list. It incidentally was the best year for India in that category, but then in 2024, we saw the demand slide. What went wrong then and how are you working towards rekindling consumer interest in the category?
India saw some exceptional volume growth back then, the likes of which has never been seen globally. A large number of brands entered the category. Unfortunately, that was not the right way to build the category, even though growth went up. Everyone ran fast, but now they are tired and some have already moved out. Now the volumes are stabilizing and it boils down to who can give the right quality and tech to consumers. For e.g., our pro-series is in the above Rs 5000 range and interestingly only Noise has been able to sell a decent volume of products in that price point because of AI and high-level algorithm in it. Plus, the Noise app differentiates us from the other local domestic brands as none of them even have an app, let alone a good one. On a larger level we have been fortunate because even though the category is declining, Noise has been growing –every fourth smartwatch that sells in the country is probably from Noise. Our goal would be to bring that up to third. But honestly, increasing volume is not the only focus, instead it is on the value that we can give to the consumer and how we engage him with an ecosystem of our devices rather than just selling him a single device.
Q] Do you mean an ecosystem like what Apple has built today, also is premiumization the key to growing in the market?
It’s not just about premiumization. Premiumization in India is being used very casually these days. For somebody, premiumization is selling a Rs 1200 device, for others a Rs 5000 or Rs 10,000 one. Increasing your own ASP can’t be called premiumization. But having said that, for any brand to do decent business, the 2023 pricing is not sustainable and hence a lot of brands died in the journey of getting those volumes. Also, to give the right sort of experience from app to the hardware, to the UI, UX, you need to really invest in the brand. When you do that, it’s not the price that you are increasing, it’s the quality of product that you are bettering for which the consumer will want to pay you.
Q] Today people flaunt Apple products with pride. Do you foresee a time when owning Noise gadgets would be perceived as a status symbol?
It’s a long journey. It’s not wise for us to say that we will give the same experience as some other brand; neither do we want to get compared with them. It’s a different fight, a different set of consumers. We are trying to solve different problems with very different products. Even they are not at a 50% market share in India and enjoy only a higher single digit share, there is the other 92% of the market that we are targeting and it will take time.
Q] Despite the demand going down, unlike most of your competitors, Noise’s revenue has grown year after year. What is 2025 looking like?
We are expecting this year to be similar to 2024. We have been bootstrapped for most of our journey and the recent investment from Bose has also been a partnership investment, not one that has come to do an extraordinary scale-up. We want to be able to do sustainable business.
Q] Interestingly, people talk about Noise in the same breath as Micromax which grew rapidly in the smartphone category before Chinese players entered the market. How are you making sure that you don’t meet the same fate?
These are the different scenarios. When these Indian domestic mobile brands were growing, there were no Chinese brands here. But when we started operating, all these Chinese and global brands were already present, and even they couldn’t build their brand the way the domestic Indian brands were able to build it in the smart wearables and smartwatch space.
Q] Very interestingly four India origin brands are leading the smart wearables space in India- Noise, boat, Fire-Boltt and Boult …
I don’t know what went wrong for the Indian smartphone makers 10 years ago, but all of us today are surely doing something right. We have grown up in an era where if you’re buying a domestic brand, you’re just buying a cheap Chinese knockoff. Honestly, when Amit and I started the company, the idea was to give an international brand experience in the domestic market which you don’t get easily unless you are buying a global brand. We wanted to create a high-quality product at a price-point which Indians are used to, rather than expensive global brands. Also, we don’t have a one size fits all approach, we aim to create specific products for different cohorts. We have taken care of all this better than any Chinese brand out there.
Q] In FY2024 you spent Rs 286cr on marketing, what was FY2025 like? Are you digital or traditional media heavy?
We have spent a little lesser than that in FY2025 because over the past few years we have managed to build a reputation organically too. I believe in targeting whatever medium is right for that particular situation/ campaign/ launch. Like for the recent launch with Bose, we started with being digital heavy. But as a bootstrapped company we have to be very conscious of the money that is going out vs the result we are expecting.
Q] Is an IPO on the cards?
IPO is an overhyped word. Mentally, we are prepared for it but whether it will happen in a year, two, three, it’s very difficult to say. We have the team, we have the people, we have the capability of going out in the next one and a half years as well. But I’m not very sure about what’s the right time for it, especially looking at how the market is behaving right now.
