New Delhi: Home-grown mobile maker Jivi Mobiles has forayed into the smartphone space with initial offerings in the price range of Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000.
It plans to invest Rs 100 crore to build its manufacturing facility for smartphones. Until now, the company has been making feature phones only, a segment in which it has built a strong reputation.
Talking about Jivi Mobiles expansion plans, Murthy Bjas, group director and global head of operations, , said, “In the feature phone segment, we are targeting 5-8 per cent market share in a year’s time and for smartphone, we will first try to gain 2 per cent market share in the Rs 5000- Rs 7000 segment that we’re operating in. Two years down the line, we would target 5 per cent share in smartphone market. Under Rs 10,000 smartphone market segment is going to open up further and we would love to raise our profile in this space.”
The company will invest Rs 100 crore over the next six months to set up its own smartphone manufacturing unit in Maharashtra and create a distribution and marketing network, he added.
Presently, Jivi assembles feature phones in Delhi. The smartphone manufacturing facility is expected to become operational in six months’ time. Banking on a 10-15 per cent month-to-month growth, Jivi has targeted to double its turnover to Rs 650-700 crore this fiscal, from Rs 350 crore in 2017-18.
The company is focusing on tier 2 and 3 cities to achieve its sales growth target. It has a strong presence across northern and eastern parts of the country and is now expanding to southern and western regions.
