Xenitis Group sales touch Rs 1,000 crore

Xenitis Group, which started by selling low cost PCs under the 'Aamar PC' brand name, has posted a turnover in excess of Rs 1,000 crore in fiscal 2007-08, with its infotech division closing at Rs 860 crore in three years, and Global Automobiles reporting two-wheeler sales of Rs 152 crore in a year.

The company followed the volume manufacturing model using techonology and systems brought in from China to replicate the manufacturing model of that country.

Xenitis had its mother unit at Chinsurah, 40km west of Kolkata, and additional units in north and west India.

The company based its PCs and laptops on industry accepted standards using globally sourced standard components while its two-wheelers were based on Chinese designs and product parameters adapted and tropicalised for Indian use.

Sources said that while the PCs were in great demand in India, the two-wheelers had attracted good demand from importers in countries like Sri Lanka and Iran.

Xenitis was the first company to launch sub-Rs 10,000 PCs four years ago forcing some other major PC makers to offer ultra-low cost entry-level models.

Thereafter, it launched India's first laptop to be priced under Rs 20,000, and a 100cc motorcycle for Rs 19,990 with equated monthly instalments (EMIs) fixed at Rs 490. The 100cc bikes of its nearest competitors "� such as TVS, Bajaj and Hero Honda "� were reportedly priced much higher.

Xenitis claimed there was no 100cc bike at this price point in India, and probably in the world.

The company has ambitious plans to emerge as a volume manufacturing giant supplying brands for products ranging from PCs, mobikes, mobile handsets, to passenger cars and trucks by 2009.

It is also planning an initial public offering (IPO) to fund the second phase of expansion of its infotech division.

When contacted, Santanu Ghosh, chairman and managing director of Xenitis Group, declined to comment on its achievements and the amount it planned to raise through the IPO.

Ghosh pointed out that the money would be used to fund expansion of its infotech business which includes foraying into TFT manufacturing, memory assemblies and also mother board manufacturing.

One of Xenitis Group's most ambitious projects was the establishment of West Bengal's first two-wheeler manufacturing plant, with an investment of Rs 300 crore and an installed capacity of 3,60,000 units per year. Global Automobiles, the Group's automobile manufacturing subsidiary, launched its first two-wheeler brand - Xpression - in April 2007 and rolled out a second brand Xpression Plus in the three months that followed.

A range of bicycles, a product of another Group subsidiary, is also on the anvil.

By 2009, Global plans to foray into the manufacturing of cars, buses and trucks.

Ghosh, in an earlier interview had said, "We are sitting on cash and order surplus for the next three years. We already have orders for 1 lakh mobile handsets per month and 10,000 orders for mobikes from Iran.

"We would score over the other established two-wheeler companies because we offer quality products at very low costs, keeping our profit margins lower and by focusing on volumes," Ghosh pointed out.