Videocon to set up mobile making unit in Bengal

The Videocon Group will invest approximately ₹50 crore to set up a mobile handset making facility here.

According to Anirudh Dhoot, Director, Videocon, the assembly unit will come up at its existing facility at the IT Township of Salt Lake, on the north eastern part of the city.

The Salt Lake facility manufactures LED TV sets.

“There will be a sizeable investment in the unit, may be around ₹50 crore. By October, the mobile making unit in Bengal should become operational,” he added.

Mobile assembly It will have an annual capacity of three million devices. Focus will, initially, be on assembling both feature and smart phones.

“We will leverage the existing TV manufacturing facility in the city. At least 500 new jobs are expected to be created,” Dhoot said. This will be the second handset manufacturing facility for the company after its Aurangabad one. The Aurangabad facility has an annual capacity of 3-4 million units.

Videocon forayed into the mobile manufacturing and assembling business some four years ago. It manufactures mobiles under Videocon and Sansui brands.

Two years ago, it set up the Aurangabad facility for assembling handsets. Since then, it has not been importing finished devices from China, Dhoot said.

“After we achieve a sizeable scale in manufacturing our own devices, we might look to do contract job for others,” he added.

North Bengal facility Another ₹100 crore, sources said, will be spent in ramping up its Phulbari facility in Jalpaiguri district. The facility located in North Bengal caters to computer peripherals and assembly of devices.

According to sources, around ₹25 crore has already been invested in the facility. The remaining amount will be spent towards expanding the facility and include manufacturing of mobile accessories and peripherals like batteries and chargers.

COMMENT NOW