HMD Global India Operations Already Profitable, Executive Says

HMD Global, the licensee of the Nokia brand for phones, says the company's India operation has already become profitable. The company is also aspiring to be among the top three players in the smartphone space globally as well as in India, an official said on Tuesday.

The Finland-based company is focusing on ramping up smartphone ranges along with feature phones and also working on design and software aspects as a part of its strategies to achieve the goal.

"We are aspiring to be top three smartphone players globally and in India. As a part of strategy, the company has been focusing on design and software aspects along with quality. We are building the range in the smart and feature phones," HMD Global Business Head (North and East), Amit Goyal said.

In India, six Nokia-branded smartphones are already available and two more will be available shortly along with five feature phones, he said.

"We have sold about 70 million phones globally in the last year or so. India is the significant contributor to this global sales and the country is already among the top three countries in terms of company's business. India's operation is already profitable," he said but declined to share the sales numbers.

According to Goyal, the company would launch more products in the next few months and deepen its distributors' network.

"We will also continue on focusing feature phones as these account for 50 percent of the India market," he said.

Since its inception in December 2016, the company has already operations in 80 countries and its products are available in about 170 countries. Nokia phones are manufactured at the Foxconn plant near Chennai.