Comio in talks with large format chains to expand retail footprint

Chinese handset maker Comio today said it is in talks with large format retail chains (LFRs) to expand its offline presence in the country as it looks to strengthen its foothold in the hyper-competitive Indian smartphone market.
The brand, which is operated by Topwise Communication, forayed into the Indian market last year and currently offers its devices in the northern and western parts of the country.
"We have seen significant month-on-month growth. We are already present in north and west and by April, we should be present pan-India. We are talking to various LFRs that will help us have a strong presence, especially in the southern part of the country," Comio India CEO and Director Sanjay Kumar Kalirona told PTI.

He, however, declined to comment on the names of the players Comio is in discussions with.
Comio already has 400 distributors and is present in 20,000 retail points in India.
Kalirona said the company will also expand its product portfolio in the coming months to bring in phones with dual voice over LTE (VoLTE) support. This will allow customers to use VoLTE functions on both SIM card slots simultaneously.
Comio today launched two new smartphones -- S1 lite and C2 lite -- priced at Rs 7,499 and Rs 5,999, respectively.
Kalirona said the company has partnered with Reliance Jio under which there is a cashback offer of Rs 2,200, "which will make the effective price of the devices even more affordable".