Chinese smartphone maker Comio to invest Rs 150 cr in Noida

Comio is targeting a turnover of around Rs 4,000 crore by 2019-20

Chinese smartphone maker Comio is planning to invest Rs 150 crore in a greenfield manufacturing and assembling unit in Noida by the end of this financial year.

The new plant would manufacture smartphones and accessories, including battery and chargers for the Indian market.

At present, the company is sourcing smartphones through contract manufacturing in the National Capital Region (NCR), Comio India CEO and Director Sanjay Kumar Kalirona told Business Standard here.

“We are scouting for suitable land to set up our unit in Noida. The initial plant capacity would depend upon the response our products receive in the coming months,” he said, adding Comio had long term plans for India and was keen to contributing towards the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

Comio is targetting a turnover of around Rs 4,000 crore by 2019-20. “This year, we are aiming to sell about a million pieces and clock a turnover of Rs 600-700 crore.”

In the past few years, the Noida-Greater Noida region in Uttar Pradesh has emerged as India’s hottest smartphone manufacturing/assembly hub with big names such as Samsung, Karbonn, Lava and Intex setting up their captive units, while several other companies are in the process of following suit.

Comio has launched three new smartphones with price tags ranging from Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000. Apart from retailers, the company is banking heavily upon social media marketing to reach out to its core audience of youth, which includes collaborating with ‘social media celebrities’.

The company has tied up with 15,000 retailers, 400 distributors and 400 service centres across India as well, besides e-commerce and online portals.

Comio is a brand of its parent Hong Kong-headquartered Topwise Communication, founded in June 2005. It is a leading original device manufacturers (ODM) in China, and amongst the top three printed circuit board (PCBA) manufacturers. The brand launched its first smartphone in China in 2015.

Topwise Communication manufactures smartphones, tablets and point of sales (POS) machines. It also provides an ecosystem comprising R&D, design, manufacturing, software development and brand sales.

Meanwhile, the Noida region is estimated to have a combined capacity to churn out 140 million devices annually, roughly corresponding to 40 per cent of India’s annual demand.

However, most components are still being imported from China and these units basically assemble mobile phones from completely knocked-down (CKD) kits for hawking.

The central government had earlier expressed its intention to provide more initiatives to boost electronics manufacturing under the ‘Make in India’ theme. This is deemed imperative for generating millions of jobs for both skilled and semi skilled workforce in the country given the exponential growth of the sector and projected growth.

The Centre has estimated mobile phone production reaching 500 million devices by 2019-20 in the country.