Huawei targets to double sales in India to $2 bn by 2017

Chinese telecom gear maker Huawei has chalked out a plan for next three years to almost double its sales at USD 2 billion in India and meet most of its requirement through its manufacturing facility in Chennai.
"We have made a three-year business plan. By end of 2017, our total sales should be about USD 2 billion (over Rs 12,000 crore)," Huawei India CEO Cai Liqun told PTI in an interview.
Huawei India posted a revenue of about USD 800 million in 2013 and it is estimated to have grown by 30 per cent in 2014, with 30-35 per cent market share in telecom equipment business.

"Our final revenue figure for 2014 is being work out. We estimate to have grown by more than 30 per cent with market share of 30-35 per cent in the carrier business," Liqun said.
He said that company will ramp up its manufacturing facility in the country to meet most of its requirement domestically.
"Our theme is to make in India, develop in India to enable Digital India. We want to meet 100 per cent India requirement from our Indian manufacturing plant but it will depend on the component ecosystem. Not all components are available in India. Last year, around 50 per cent of India shipment was supplied by local factories," Liqun said.

Carrier or telecom network business of Huawei India accounts for about 80 per cent revenue of the company and 20 per cent comes from consumer device business, he said.

"More than 50 per cent of our carrier business is coming from 3G and 4G networks deals. In following years, this is going to increase because all operators are focusing on mobile broadband," Liqun said.
He said that India is an important country for Huawei where the company has set up its manufacturing unit, R&D centre and global network operation centre to service foreign clients as well.
"We have invested USD 170 million in setting up Indian research and development centre which was opened up last month. We have 2,700 employees in Indian R&D centre which is biggest outside China. Total head count in India is about 5,500 and 98 per cent of them are local employees," Liqun said.

The company will now focus on growing its consumer and enterprise business as well.
Huawei is setting up its enterprise division business to cater to telecom solution needs of business organisations for which it will join hands with Indian IT companies and channel partners.
"We have about 1,000 enterprise customers. Huawei provides network and IT solutions. We are creating our local partner network and collaborating with Indian IT companies. Last year, we worked on building partnership. This year we will roll out our enterprise business," Liqun said.