Comio eyes Rs 1,000 cr revenue by March 2018

Chinese handset maker Comio is looking to sell 1.5 million smartphones and garner revenues of Rs 1,000 crore in the country by March 2018, a top company official said.
"This year we are targeting a sales of close to 1.5 million devices by March 2018. In value terms, it would be close to Rs 1,000 crore," Comio India CEO and Director Sanjay Kumar Kalirona told PTI.
Chinese original device maker Topwise Communication, which retails phones under the Comio brand and entered India in mid-August, is targeting the youth in non-metro areas and smaller cities, with a focus on the mid-segment smartphone category.

The company is positioning its devices in the Rs 6,000- 12,000 range that constitutes about 40 per cent of the market and is growing at a robust pace.
"Our strength is mid-segment smartphone market. In next three years, we are looking at having close to 12 per cent market share in the mid-segment category. We aim to sell approximately 7-8 million devices in three years," he said.
It will initially focus on the northern and western parts of the country and the devices would be available only through offline retail stores.

"In the next 3-4 months we will be looking at only north and west. Starting April, we will launch our products in other parts of the country.

"We are focusing on offline market because we see a gap in the market in the segment in which we are operating. Close to 65-70 per cent of the market is offline and we want to have our full focus there," he said.
The handset-maker plans to strengthen its brand presence with a network of 30,000 retailers, 800 distributors and over 800 after-sales touch points catering to 500-550 towns.
The company is looking at a total investment of Rs 500 crore in two years, with a marketing investment of Rs 250 crore.
Comio recently inked pacts for local assembly of smartphones with V-Sun and Hipad Technology and will invest Rs 150 crore over the next two years.

The two facilities combined will produce around one million devices over the next six months.