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itel mobile, part of the Transsion Holdings conglomerate based out of Hong Kong and one of the leading players in Africa, is planning to set up a manufacturing facility in India. The company plans to have manufacturing centres in Noida, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Initially, the company will manufacture feature phones and smartphones. Besides, the company plans to bring two more brands by the end of this year.
Sudhir Kumar, CEO, itel Mobile India, said: "We have great plans to set up manufacturing units in India, and export worldwide over a period of time due to the cost-effectiveness of manufacturing as well as the projected volumes that can be generated from the country".
The company will be manufacturing its own brand and will not be contract manufacturing for any other brands, said Kumar. Under the itel brand, a feature and smart phone ranging from Rs 700-10,000, was launched in North India in April 2016 and they are sold across 10-12 states of North India. End of this year, the company plans to launch Tecno, its premium brand, and Infinix, which will be for online.
The company has identified a few potential locations for manufacturing facilities. Besides Noida, other two potential locations are Andhra Pradesh and Maharastra as the company's shipment will be through sea so the plants will lie close towards port areas.
"Discussions are currently ongoing and by the end of June, we will have a much clearer picture of the locations, investment amount and the industrial path we are going to follow," said Kumar, who refused to comment on investment numbers.
He added, investment will depend on business opportunities and favourable government policies. At the moment, the company will start with assembling units in India and it is in search of suitable locations in Noida to set up manufacturing units.
Kumar said the company is planning to develop an ecosystem in India, which will include designing, shipping and manufacturing products ranging from camera modules to LCDs. "We are currently in discussion with a few players operating within the Indian market, regarding strategic partnerships," he said.
The plants in India will also cater to export markets over a period of time due to the cost-effectiveness of manufacturing as well as the projected volumes that can be generated from the country.
As India is equidistant from both China and Africa, it makes greater sense to set up manufacturing here, said Kumar.
Transsion Holdings Conglomerate is one of the leading mobile phone manufacturers and feature phone manufacturer. itel has sold 70 million mobile handsets globally. In 2015, its sales volume reached 30 millions handsets. So we thought this is the right time to enter the Indian market.
The company has six factories, two in China (Huizhou, Shenzhen) and four in Africa (two in Ethiopia, one in Nigeria, one in Kenya) and plans to set one factory in Noida. Everyday around 3 lakh devices are manufactured based on current demand. This is the amount of devices it produces for Africa and China combined. The maximum manufacturing capacity for the company's factories is around 5 lakh devices a day.
