Celkon Mobile, the fifth-largest handset brand owned owned by Celkon Impex, plans to open up a dedicated design centre and assembly line in Bengaluru.
In an interaction with Deccan Herald as part of announcing Sandalwood actor Yash as its brand ambassador, Celkon Mobiles Executive Director Murali Retineni said the company is on an expansion mode to meet growing demand in the market.
“We find Bengaluru as an ideal location to start a design centre and assembly line. Our current R&D and design centres are located in Hyderabad and China, employing 130 people. We are planning to shift our China centre to India soon,” he said.
Retineni said the company is looking at Bengaluru as its primary location as it has a full-fledged design ecosystem backed by IT engineering and design talent pool. “Karnataka is a Rs 400-crore mobile market, with a leading share in India’s overall demand. We are on the final stage of discussion on starting an assembly line here to take at least 10 per cent of the market share,” he said.
Celkon, which sells feature phones priced at Rs 800 onwards and smartphones in the Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000 band, also produces tablets and plans to come up with 4G phones and tablets. Celkon, which has become a Rs 1,000-crore revenue company recently, announced Rs 250 crore in investments at Hyderabad and Tirupati, which will take its production capacity to one million units a month.
The Hyderabad based company has also lined up ambitious plans to start making LCD televisions and mulls signing an agreement with a Chinese company.
DH News Service
The company’s Chairman and Managing Director Y Guru recently announced a plan to establish an R&D and design house with an investment of around Rs 100 crore, employing 500 people.
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