Sony India hopes Xperia smartphones sales will top Rs. 3,500 crores

"We will hard sell our Xperia brand of smartphones in the country for which a marketing budget of Rs. 300 crore has been earmarked," Sachin Thapar, head (IT and mobile businesses) of Sony India said Tuesday.

Sony, which had earlier tied up with Swedish firm Ericsson for getting a foothold in the Indian mobile market is giving a new push to position itself as a major smartphone brand in the country.

"After the departure of Ericsson, the brandcall of Sony phones has increased substantially," he said.

Launching the new generation Sony Xperia Z (Review I Pictures) smartphone Kolkata, Thapar said the size of the mobile smartphone market in the country is 3.3 crore units per annum, out of which 15 lakh units are in West Bengal only.

Thapar said that Sony's present market share in the smartphone category is nine per cent in value terms.

"The smartphone market in India is growing at 70 percent per annum. We aim to garner a share of 13 to 14 percent by next fiscal," he said.

Thapar said that the company is aiming to earn a revenue of Rs. 3,500 crore from sales of Xperia during 2013.

He said that sales channels would also be doubled to meet the targets.

The company has also roped in Bollywood star Katrina Kaif as its brand ambassador for Xperia Z phones.