Intex aims to double turnover to $1.5 bn

Intex, a diversified technology firm, aims to more than double its turnover to $1.5 billion (Rs.9,000 crore) during the current financial year, a top company official said on Monday.

The company, which is into the business of mobile phones, consumer durables and IT products, had a turnover of $600 million (Rs.4,000 crore) during 2014-15. Mobile phones account for 85 percent of the total turnover.

Keshav Bansal, director, Intex, said they would be investing Rs.2,700 crore over the next two to three years as part of aggressive plans to double the turnover. The zero debt company will raise all the funds internally.

He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of an event where the company roped in Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu as the brand ambassador and also launched a new smart phone - Intex Aqua Trend.

Bansal said they would invest Rs.1,500 crore in manufacturing. This includes the investment in the upcoming facility over 20 lakh square feet at Greater Noida for manufacturing of smart and feature phones.

The new facility to be operational in six to eight months will take the overall handset manufacturing capacity to 3.5 million per month, from the existing 2.5 million. This facility, when fully completed, will have total capacity of 3.5 million to 4 million mobiles.

With the existing three manufacturing facilities, Intex is manufacturing 2.5 million mobile phones. In July, it manufactured 2.7 million handsets.

It sold 20 million mobile phones during 2014-15 and it has set a target of 30 million handsets for the current year.

The second largest smartphone maker in India has a share of 10.5 percent in smart phone market in India. It has set a target of 15 million smart phones during 2015-16, more than double from seven million last year.

It is rolling out two to three new models of smart phones every month.

Bansal said the company has a dedicated team for research and development and they plan to invest Rs.500 crore in R&D over next two to three years.

The company has been growing at 100 percent for last three to four years. He attributed this to the wide distribution network, high technology products, attractive price and best servicing and marketing.

Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, business head, Mobile Intex Technologies (India) Ltd, said they have seven percent market share in south India and aim to take it to 15 percent in next one year.

He said Intex would also explore the potential of manufacturing in south India depending on the rise in demand.