Karbonn Looking to Set Up Mobile Manufacturing Unit in Hyderabad

Karbonn reiterated to invest Rs. 800 crores over a period of next three years for manufacturing mobile phones in India. Shashin Devsare, Executive Director, Karbonn, said, "As part of the investment initiative, we have tied up with Water World to set up a facility in Noida that will be capable of producing 1.5 million units." He even went on to suggest that the company may start manufacturing phones at the Noida by end of this quarter. He however declined to give away any specific time frame for the start of manufacturing.

Talking about another manufacturing unit in Hyderabad, Devasare said, "We are also looking at setting up a handset facility in Hyderabad worth Rs. 450 crores."

"More than 50 percent of our revenue came from smartphones," he said while answering how sales of Karbonn smartphones have been in recent times.

Karbonn stressed on capitalising on the rural and the semi-urban markets, and alongside revealed plans to tap the language barrier issue in India via its offerings.

On being asked about any plans to launch 4G phones in India, Devasare explained that the Indian market is still going through a 4G trial phase and Karbonn will launch its 4G handsets when the adoption of 4G is rising.

Karbonn, which is a joint venture between Jaina Marketing and UTL group, closed the last financial year with a profit of Rs. 4,000 crores, and is looking to close the current financial year at Rs. 5,000 crores.

He also confirmed that Karbonn would keep doors open for other brands to use the new manufacturing hubs. The handset-maker has a tie-up with Panasonic which is also building its manufacturing unit and had earlier told IANS that Karbonn might produce phones in their facility.

Written with inputs from IANS