Celkon to spend Rs. 100 crore on brand promotion

Mobile phone maker Celkon Impex Pvt Ltd said it would spend Rs. 100 crore towards brand promotion, including sponsoring cricket matches and fashion shows, in the current fiscal.

Y Guru, Chairman and managing director, Celkon said after the tri-series cricket series, the brand became popular and there are trade enquiries from as many as 17 countries.

"As a brand, Celkon has immensely benefited from the cricket match sponsorship. Last year, we spent Rs. 58 crore.

This year we want to spend Rs. 100 crore for brand building.

"We are in talks with agencies to sponsor some more cricket matches in this year. We may extend brand promotion by associating with fashion shows also," Guru told reporters Hyderabad.

According to him, Digicel, the largest mobile telecommunications operator in the Caribbean has approached Celkon for a possible association there.

He said the company aims clock Rs. 1,000-1,200 crore revenues in the current year by registering one million mobile phone sales per month by the end of December.

"Currently we are selling 5 lakh sets a month. We expect it to go up to 7 lakh from this month and it may touch one million sets per month by the end of December," Guru said.

Replying to a query, he said the company may start exports in the current fiscal once the required licences are in place.

Celkon has launched 'signature series' of its mid ranged smart phone during the tri-series. It also plans to launch 2 new range cell phones-Monalisa Series and Campus Series by next month.

Monalisa series will be in the high end range with Jellybean Android operating system, while Campus series is aimed at the youth, Guru said.