Chinese mobile devices maker Coolpad today said it would invest around Rs 1,950 crore in India to manufacture and sell low cost handsets in the country.
"We started business in India in 2007 with sale of first mobile phone with CDMA and GSM sim support in partnership with Reliance Communications. This is first time we are launching smart devices in our own brand name.
"We have earmarked an investment of USD 300 million (about Rs 1,950 crore) till March, 2017 in our India business," Coolpad Group Chief Financial Officer Jiang Chao told reporters here.
He was speaking at the launch of dual sim 4G smartphone Coolpad Note 3 for Rs 8,999 which it will sell online through Amazon from October 20.
The phone has 5.5 inch screen and comes with finger touch sensor at the back to unlock phone in 0.5 seconds, 3GB RAM and 64GB internal storage, 13 megapixel rear camera with LED flash and 5 mp front camera, octacore Mediatek processor and 3000 mAh battery capacity.
"We are a USD 3 billion company and have over 6,000 patents. We want to give Indian consumer more value. This phone is customised for India and supports 13 Indian languages.
"We will not focus on profits till March 2017 but look at customer experience," Coolpad Group Vice President Johnson Luo said.
Coolpad announced to partner with Videocon Industries to make its mobile phones in India.
"Till December, we will use our existing stock and from first quarter of 2016 we will start selling India made phones for Indian customers.
"We will also use the investment to subsidise handset price so that customers get to experience our product," Coolpad India CEO Syed Tajuddin said.
He said there will be further reduction in price of its mobile device after production starts in India.
"We will give existing players run for their money. Once we start producing in India, we will be able to further lower the price," Tajuddin said.
He added that the company will launch one new product every quarter and aim to sell half a million units per quarter.
Coolpad has partnered with HCL Care for after sales service.
"In first seven days, Amazon has provision to provide service in case there is complaint. After that, we are working to provide pick up service through HCL Care in case there is any complaint," Tajuddin said.
Coolpad also plans to set up research and development in India as well increase workforce by 10 times to around 500 in a year.
"As our business grows, we will need manpower to support it. We expect our team to grow from 50 at present to 500 in a year. This will have people for operations, sales and product development," Tajuddin said.
