Maxx Mobile looking at PE players to raise up to ₹100 crore

Home-grown handset vendor Maxx Mobile is looking to raise between ₹50 crore and ₹100 crore from private equity players by September this year.

According to Ajjay Agarwal, CMD, Maxx Mobile, the funds would be used as working capital, for day-to-day usage.

The Mumbai-headquartered company has already decided to raise around ₹60 crore ($10 million) from Star Asia Holdings Pte Ltd, Singapore. Around ₹30 crore has already been received earlier this year. The second tranche of ₹30 crore is expected soon.

“We are in talks with some PE players to raise funds by September this year. Talks are in advanced stage with existing investors (Star Asia Holdings) too,” he told

It is looking at a six-fold increase in turnover to Rs 3,600 crore this fiscal.

A minority stake might be off-loaded too, Agarwal maintained. Maxx reported a turnover of around ₹600 crore in FY14.

The company is looking to capitalise on the rising demand for accessories apart from focussing on entry-to-mid and mid-to-high end smartphones (priced between ₹4,000 and ₹17,000).

As part of its expansion plans, Maxx is focussing on introducing a plethora of mid-to-high value accessories that include power banks (portable chargers), hands-free kits (earphones), Bluetooth speakers, plastic covers and so on.

While some products have already been introduced, others are likely to be launched soon. “Instead of batteries and chargers, people now prefer power banks. This gives us a scope to try out high value offerings,” he added.

Maxx would look to leverage its own production unit at Haridwar in Uttarakhand for accessories. It had invested around ₹500 crore in the unit but operations were halted when the handset import duty made domestic manufacturing unviable.

According to him, assembly lines (in the unit) have already been put in place, and, production is likely to start soon .