Smartphone maker Comio is looking at a pan-India presence by June, especially in the budget segment.

While the company has a presence in North and West India, it recently began retailing in the East and within the next month, it should be available in the Southern markets.

According to Sanjay Kalirona, CEO, Comio India, the brand is positioning itself as budget offering, primarily within the sub-₹10,000 range, targeting “non-metro users”.

“In terms of presence, we will be a pan-India brand by June, with launches in East and South soon. Distributors and retailers are being readied,” he told BusinessLine , adding that it intends to sell three million devices within this fiscal (FY19).

Comio, a China-based original design manufacturer, had previously been a supplier to a popular home-grown mobile phone brand. Its journey as a smartphone seller in India began since September 2017. Apart from India, Comio-branded phones are sold in China.

Semi-urban focus

The brand has already spent over ₹100 crore towards marketing, and according to Kalirona, the focus has been on semi-urban and lower rung markets.

In fact, the replacement market – those upgrading from feature phones or from one smart phone to another – continues to be the big draw.

“We are positioning ourselves for the non-metro youth targeting the age group of 18 to 30,” he said.

Comio claims to have found success. As per a GfK report, in Himachal Pradesh, the brand ranks three (in the ₹5k-8k range) with 12 per cent market share, while in Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh it enjoys a 6 per cent market share in the ₹8,000-10,000 price range.

Some market where it sees good traction include Faridabad, jalandhar, Ludhiana, Kanpur, Ahmedabad and Bhopal.

Currently, the semi-urban markets have a strong proliferation of low-cost devices and particularly Indian brands.

Most of the Chinese brands – especially new entrants like Transsion Holdings, Forme and so on – are looking to target the segment.

In a bid to be competitive, Comio is also mulling manufacturing in India.

From semi-knocked down (SKDs) condition, the company is now exploring the option of going for complete manufacturing of handsets (using surface mount technology) in India by December.

Compared to SKD, use of surface mount technology (SMT) – a method for producing electronic circuits in which the components are mounted or placed directly onto the surface of printed circuit boards – will entail a near 6 per cent cost saving for Comio.

However, switching over to SMT will entail an investment of another ₹150 crore. The brand intends to wait for sometime before taking a call.

“Currently, we are absorbing the cost rise (because of SKD manufacturing). However, we are in talks and by the end of this year we could start full manufacturing in India. We may invest or opt for partnerships or some other route,” Kalirona said.

Comio’s lone manufacturing unit (operated by Vsun) is in Haryana.

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