NEW DELHI: Gionee, the mobile handset maker, is positioning itself to become the most sought after brand in India, Africa and South East Asia in the next few years, with an investment of about Rs 500 crore in its manufacturing units.
The firm claims to be selling more than half million units per month and by year-end, aims to sell one million.
“We are in the fourth year of operation and we have laid to rest us being a Chinese company. Manufacturing of our phones in India is already happening in Andhra Pradesh with Foxcon and Dixon in Noida,” Arvind Vohra India MD and CEO told Express recently.
The company on Monday launched its new handset S6s, priced at Rs 17,999. The 5.5-inch handset features 1.3 Ghz octacore processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB internal memory (expandable up to 128GB), 13MP rear and 8MP front camera and 3,150 mAh battery. It also plans to launch four new smartphones, priced between Rs 9,999 and Rs 24,999, by mid-October as part of its efforts to expand its market share in India to 7-10 per cent by next March from the current five per cent.
To improve its business, the company has initiated new marketing strategies. The company that used have just one office in Delhi, now has three and others in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkatta and Jaipur. “My role has been split into four and each one is headed by regional directors. We are doing capacity augmentation and building the organisation,” Vohra said.
Gionee also announced that Alia Bhatt would be its Brand Ambassador in India.
Vohra feels that the second hand market, even from firms like Apple will not make a dent on the overall mobile market. “I don’t see a Gionee first hand customer moving to a second hand market Apple market,” said Vohra. He also plans to set up 500 exclusive service centres, up from the current 206, to provide support to Gionee customers.