Salora forays into mobile handset biz

Television maker Salora International has joined its peers Videocon, LG and Samsung to foray into the multi-crore rupee Indian mobile handset business and plans to expand its product portfolio over the next few months.

In the first phase, Salora plans to launch its handsets in eastern India, Delhi-NCR, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

"There are already a huge number of players, but we will look to differentiate our product on the basis of quality. We have a television business and people trust our brand, which will help us in the market," Salora International managing director Gopal Jiwarajka told PTI.

Homegrown firms like Micromax and Zen have given tough competition to established brands like Nokia and Samsung in the Indian market, capturing a major share in rural parts of the country.

This has prompted many consumer durable makers like Videocon and power backup solution providers such as Genus and Wynncom to enter the mobile handset segment.

According to a study by telecom market research firm CyberMedia Research, the mobile handsets segment in the country is expected to grow at a 26.2% CAGR over the 2010-2014 period to touch Rs 1,28,729 crore in 2014.

Salora has launched two handsets in the market and will add another eight devices over the next one year, he added.

The handsets launched include SM501 (Rs 2,999) and SM401 (Rs 2,499).

"We would bring handsets in the Rs 1,500-4,000 bracket because this is where we see the biggest demand," he said, adding that the company would focus on smaller towns.

The company is targeting monthly sales of about 50,000-75,000 units in the next one year.

"We are a new company and it will take some time for us to get scale, but in a year's time, we should be in a position to sell about 50,000-75,000 units a month," Jiwarajka said.

The handsets would be sourced from China and would be supported by Salora's network of 170 service centres across the country.