Videocon to manufacture mobile handsets at Salt Lake unit

KOLKATA: Videocon group would start manufacturing mobile handsets at its Salt Lake facility near the metropolis in a few months' time, an official of the company said.

"We have decided to start manufacturing of Videocon brand mobile handsets at our existing Salt Lake factory. Full production will start just before the Durga Puja festival," Videocon Industries director Anirudh Dhoot said.

Initially, the company would manufacture around three million handsets, both in the feature and smartphone categories. "We are increasing our focus on the mobile phones market," he said.

Dhoot said that he met the West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra this morning and he assured of all help from the state government.

"I have also spoken to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over phone and she asked us to make Kolkata the manufacturing hub of Videocon handsets," he told reporters.

Presently, the company is manufacturing these handsets at its Aurangabad facility under both Videocon and Sansui brands with a production capacity of 3 million units.

The approximate investment at Salt Lake facility would be Rs 50 crore and it will create 500 jobs.

Dhoot said that Videocon would source components from Chinese vendors and then assemble them here.

The designs of the phones would be made in Shanghai and Shenzhen in China. Dhoot said it would start a third design centre at Gurgaon.

With a negligible market share, Dhoot said that it would build up volumes first. "We will then go for the market share game," he said.