After launching the Note 3 smartphone in India yesterday, Coolpad has announced plans to ‘Make in India’. The Chinese smartphone maker said that it would invest around Rs 1,950 crore in India to manufacture and sell low cost handsets in the country.
Coolpad said that it is partnership with domestic electronics brand Videocon to make smartphones in India. Coolpad expects to roll out half a million devices from its facility in Maharashtra. the first locally made smartphone will be available in Q1 2016. Videocon recently started manufacturing mobile handsets at its Salt Lake unit in Kolkata. The company will launch one new product every quarter and aim to sell half a million units per quarter. Coolpad’s Chief Financial Officer Jiang Chao told PTI that the company has earmarked Rs. 1,950 investment for India till March, 2017.
“India is very crucial market for Coolpad and we believe we will learn a lot from our investments here. We are here to bring affordable smartphones to the users,”said Dr. Johnson Luo, Coolpad, V.P. Coolpad Group.
Coolpad produces nearly 34 million smartphones every year and is $3billion company. It had earlier entered in India with the Dazen brand that was a partnership between Coolpad and Chinese search engine Qihoo 360. Dazen will continue to sell its smartphones in India under the same brand name. The company, which was the first to invent dual-SIM dual standby, is betting on the 4G revolution, Indian local language support and customization for India to push sales of its devices. Earlier this month it was reported that Intex is looking forward to set up a Rs 1,000 Cr manufacturing facility at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh.
Asus, Vivo, HTC, Sony, Microsoft, LG, Lenovo, Motorola, Micromax, Celkon and Karbonn are some of the national and international smartphone makers that have announced their plans to kick start manufacturing smartphones in India.