Fuelled by an increasing demand for smartphones, Celkon Mobiles is eyeing revenues of ₹1,400 crore, a 50 per cent growth in the 2015 fiscal year.
The Hyderabad-based phone maker believes that out of the 7 lakh handsets that it sells every month, at the end of fiscal 2014, had clocked revenues of ₹920 crore but sees that with an increasing number of people buying smartphones, it will help them achieve target. “About 60 per cent of our sales comes from smartphones and with the onset of the festive season, we are confident of achieving this milestone,” Murali Retineni, Executive Director, Celkon Mobiles, told BusinessLine .
Bulk of the growth would come from Tier-II and small town cities, where the hunger for smartphones is on the rise and where competitors such as Karbonn and Micromax have strong footing too.
According to a recent Asia Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone tracker report by IDC, smartphone shipments have grown 84 per cent on a yearly basis in the June ended quarter or a total of 63.21 million handsets sold.
Retineni has also set a target of selling a million smartphones every month, from the existing 7 lakh handsets, starting from this festive season. Company officials point to a spate of recent handset launches that can drive this growth. For example, the Ultra Q500, is supposed to be fastest smartphone from the Celkon stable, which boasts of a 5” HD screen, 2GB RAM and other functionalities at less than ₹10,000.
Similarly, company officials point to the Millennium Vogue handset, which is priced at ₹7,999 and comes with a differentiation of being the slimmest Indian handset and an advanced battery backup. “Last year, we sold 5 lakh handsets a month and this has gone up by another 2 lakh this year, which indicates strong demand for smartphones,” said Retineni.
Analysts believe that Celkon is doing this to catch up with other device makers such as Micromax and Karbonn, with the former eyeing the billion-dollar mark at the end of this fiscal year.
The company, despite growing revenues at a fast clip, has ambitions to be the top five device makers, said Sanchit Vir Gogia, Analyst, Greyhound Research.