Lava aims to be a billion dollar company by March 2015

Handset maker Lava aims to achieve a turnover of USD 1 billion by the end of March 2015 and also plans to start manufacturing in India in the next few years.
"Last year we did Rs 1,000 crore and this year we will do around Rs 2,500 crore ... We aspire to be a billion dollar company by March 2015," Lava International Chairman and Managing Director Hari Om Rai told PTI.
He said the company is in talks with the government regarding manufacturing and has also set up a unit to look into the issue.
"We are evaluating the feasibilities because we believe that India requires manufacturing to employ huge population but we need some support from the government," Rai said.

He added domestic players must get some initial thrust to compete with China.
"I think the government is ready to provide (support) and we will get it ... Currently we have set up a small unit inside the company to look into this matter, we would like to start manufacturing as early as possible," he added.

Rai said Lava wants to achieve a double digit market share in the smartphone segment in the next 7-8 months.
"We have, what we believe, around 7 per cent market share in smartphone category and would like to achieve a double digit share in coming 7-8 months," Rai added.

The company today launched its smartphone series iris pro with a device priced at Rs 15,999.
The phone has a 4.7 inch screen and weighs 114 grams.
It is equipped with an 8 mega pixel rear camera, 3 mega pixel front camera and has features like face detection, four-directional panoramic view.
"With the launch of Iris Pro series, we have expanded our offerings in mid to premium smartphones category," Rai said.