Consumer durable & mobile maker Intex to start new unit in Noida by year end

Company enters refrigerator segment and ropes in Madhuri Dixit as brand ambassador for the product

The Rs 6,200 crore consumer durable and mobile maker Intex said that its sixth new facility at Noida will be ready by end of this fiscal or early next year. The new facility, which will be spread over in 20 acres, will cater to both domestic and export markets and to start with, it will produce TVs, mobile phones, chargers and others.

After announcing its national foray into the refrigerator segment and expanding the washing machines portfolio in Chennai today, Nidhi Markanday, director and business head-Consumer Durables & IT Peripherals, Intex Technologies said that the new facility will have capacity to produce 35 million units per annum.

To start with, the company would look at manufacturing mobile phones, batteries, chargers and LED TVs in the new facility. Refrigerators and washing machines will be partially imported and the balance will be sourced from local manufacturers for the time being.

While refusing to comment on investment numbers, she said, that the company had invested around Rs 135 crore in manufacturing in 2015-16.

The Noida facility in Uttar Pradesh will be company's sixth facility in the country. It currently has one facility each in Jammu and Himachal Pradesh and another three in Noida.

The 20-year old company claims itself as the largest Indian mobile brand, sells about 1.5-2 lakh speakers every year, 80,000 to 100,000 power banks every month.

To strengthen its offerings the company has announced its foray into refrigerator segment and signed film actress Madhuri Dixit as its brand ambassador for the same. The company said it spends around 3-4 per cent of its revenue in marketing.

The company has introduced three models of single-door direct cooling refrigerators with a capacity range of 170Ltd to 190 Ltd. The refrigerators will be available in the price range of around Rs 10,900 to Rs 14,300.

The company also announced expansion of washing machines with new fully automatic top-loading washing machine to its portfolio.

She added, currently CDI (Consumer Durable and IT Peripherals) is contributing around 15 per cent of the revenue, while the balance contributed by mobile phones. This year the company is targeting to increase the CDI share to 85 per cent.

The Rs 6,200 crore company claimed that in the last three years CARG was around 80 per cent and expects to maintain its momentum in the coming years.

Markanday said around 70-75 per cent of its sales comes from tier-II and III towns, which makes the brand as one of the strong contender in these towns.

The company currently has around 80 Intex Smart World, which sells only Intex products, across 65 cities and by end of this year it wants to increase the number to 100.