Karbonn to invest Rs 150 cr in FY12, to make tablet

Home grown mobile phone company Karbonn will invest Rs 150 crore in product development, after sales service centres and marketing this year.

"We are focusing more on product development and after sales service. Once we have a robust product road-map, we can think of manufacturing.

"We are going to go for disruptive marketing and increase market size for us. In all, we will spend Rs 150 crore in FY12," Karbonn Mobiles Executive Director Shashin Devsare told PTI.

He said Karbonn is going to set-up 1,000 ASC network in upcountry locations with at least 1 ASC in a radius of 150 kilometeres and collection point in a radius of 60 km.

"We have increased our investment in ASC by more than 15%. You can not grow if you have pathetic after sales network," Devsare said.

Karbonn expects to close FY12 with overall market share of 6% and take it up to 10% in FY13.

"We have 7 to 8% market share on quarterly basis and in the fourth quarter we expect to reach 10%. We hope to sustain 10% level for next six months and then grow it further," Devsare said.

The company's sales has increased to 8 lakh units per month this year, from 5 lakh units last year, he said.

He said that company is looking to expand its market base from economy class to mid-economy section of the society.

"We will launch range of smartphones and tablets to attract the mid-economy section by the end of this year and fourth quarter of this financial year," Devsare.

Karbonn also plans to launch an Android tablet in last quarter of calendar year 2011, priced below Rs 10,000 along with smartphones running on Android platform.

The company is also in discussions with CDMA players to launch Android-based CDMA phone.

"Android-based CDMA smartphones will be launched by the end of this year or early next year. We are in discussions with CDMA players to launch them in a package deal," Devsare said.

To expand its bouquets of service, Karbonn is in discussions with an IT company to start its own application store and the deal is expected to be signed by end of October, Devsare said.