Chinese smartphone maker Gionee plans to invest Rs.300 crore over the next three years as part of plans to start making mobile phones in India and is in the process of scouting for partners for the same.
Gionee India Country CEO and MD Arvind Vohra said initially the company would be assembling phone at the facility.
“We should begin assembly of phone in a year-and-a-half. Once that gets stabilised, we will gradually move forward. By then, component ecosystem in India will also grow.”
He added that the company was looking at third party contract manufacturing as of now and is in discussions with prospective partners.
Once in place, the facility will service not only the Indian market but also SAARC countries and Nigeria.
Targets 60 m handsetsWith a target of selling 60 million handsets in the current fiscal, the company on Tuesday partnered with leading retail players such as Spice, The Mobile Store, Mobiliti World, Jumbo Electronics, Croma Retail and Planet M.
“Gionee handsets will now be available across over 1,000 stores and the brand aims to sell over 35,000 additional devices every month immediately and scale it up at a constant pace in the coming future. Through this move we look at increasing our sale by over 10 per cent in the coming year.” Mr. Vohra said.
Gionee presently sells through exclusive brand stores, shop-in-shops and the company’s e-store. It aims to open 250 brand stores in next one year and also increase the service centres to 1,000 by end of 2015.
