My experience with local brands( I have only purchased local brands)
1. Karbonn A5- My current phone since a year. On GB 2.3. Phone is very smooth for almost all tasks except for multi tab browsing and rich webpages. Awesome VFM. Great one handed operation. Love it.
2. Lava 501- Another great 5 inch VFM mobile . However, quite on the heavy side but better battery than my A5. Using it intermittently since 10 months
3. Karbonn A15- My only regret. ICS on a 1 ghz processor + 512 mb ram is a strict no no. Lags in basic tasks and finally went dead within 6 months. Service centre guys refusing to service on the pretext of "Since its online purchase, need to approve servicing from company" and whenever i go, they say approval has not yet arrived. Tried calling their CC, emailed them , shouted out a rant on their FB page, no response. Totally apathetic
Do i recommend local brands : No . If your phone develop problem, they will leave you in the lurch. If you have to go for local brands due to money constraint, then atleast go for MMX as it has much more services centres than other brands.