Micromax to invest Rs 250 cr in Himachal Pradesh

NEW DELHI: Micromax Informatics, a Gurgaon-based mobile handset maker, will invest Rs 300 crore in the current fiscal for setting up a production plant in Himachal Pradesh and brand building exercise.

"We will spend Rs 250 crore in 2009-10 to set up a mobile phone manufacturing plant in Himachal pradesh (Baddi) and another Rs 50 crore on brand-building exercise," MicroMax Informatics COO Rahul Sharma told media.

He said the plant, which will be operational by March next year, would have a capacity of producing three lakh units of handsets a month, which is scalable to one million units over a period of time.

At present, the company is doing contract manufacturing in China, Korea, Taiwan and Himachal Pradesh (Baddi). The company is also spending Rs 50 crore on advertising, which will be a 360-degree campaign, for brand building.

"Our main target is to enter the urban market now. Till now we have been a tier-II and tier-III player. Soon we are going to open 100 exclusive stores in four metros and tier-I cities," Sharma said. The company claims to sell about half a million handsets a month and is targetting to sell six million units this year.