According to a new research, the total mobile phone sales have increased 20.8 per cent to 221.6 million units in the country during 2012.

A study by CyberMedia Research (CMR) showed that the mobile phone sales in the country were recorded at 183.4 million in 2011. The report showed that the growth was boosted by high demand for smartphones in the country. Even as smartphones accounted for just 7 per cent of the handset market, its sales grew 35.7 per cent to 15.2 million devices in 2012 compared to 11.2 million units during 2011.

"Although we see a huge market 'hype' around smartphones, the fact remains that the India mobile handset market is still dominated by shipments of feature phones. On the other hand, smartphone shipments are growing fast," CMR Lead Analyst for Telecoms Practice, Faisal Kawoosa said.

The sales for feature phones grew 19.9 per cent to 206.4 million in 2012 compared to 172.2 million in the previous year. As for the market share, Nokia remained the leader in the Indian market with a market share of 21.8 per cent, ahead of Samsung with a 13.7 per cent market share and Micromax with 6.6 per cent market share.