Micromax says may invest Rs 2,000 crores in manufacturing in the next five years

Micromax, country’s second-largest handset maker is likely to invest around Rs. 2,000 crores in the next five years in manufacturing and new product lines, its co-founder Rajesh Agarwal said Thursday. He said the company is expected to clock Rs. 15,000 crores revenues during the current fiscal. It recorded Rs. 12,000 crores revenues last year. “We are planning to manufacture accessories such as batteries, chargers here in the country. The backward integration will happen in a period of next five to six years. I think over next five to six years we will be investing Rs. 2,000 crores on complete manufacturing activities,” Agarwal told reporters in Hyderabad. The new manufacturing facility of Micromax was Thursday inaugurated in Hyderabad by Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao in presence of state Transport Minister P Mahendra Reddy. Spread across 19 acres, the facility will make mobile handsets, LED TVs, LED lights among others. The mobile maker has a plant in Rajasthan also. He said the current size of mobile phone market in the country is 220 million units per annum and the brand enjoys a market share of 14 percent. “We are talking a growth of about 25 percent this year. Our target this year would Rs. 15,000 crores. Today, we are selling around 2.5 million units per month. That’s our run rate. We launched LED television sets around one and half years ago. We are one of the fastest growing LED TV companies in the country,” he claimed. Agarwal said they are open to join with other companies to bring in the electronic component manufacturing to the country. “We will request the Telangana Government to allot some land for setting up Research and Development facility here,” he added. The company has already invested over Rs. 100 crores in its Hyderabad project in the first phase, he said. On exports, the co-founder said Micromax is currently exporting to around five countries and has plans to expand the footprints to African and European countries in future. The Telangana facility currently employs 700 people and will increase the number to 1,000 in the next two months, boosting employment opportunities in the state. “Telangana government strongly believes in the vision of ‘Make in India’ and has always encouraged corporates to establish their factories and R&D centres in the state,” Rao said. Agarwal said the company aims to be India’s largest indigenous phone manufacturer by 2017. By the end of the year, it plans to have two more plants in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh that will give the company a total capacity of five million units. These facilities will manufacture both phones and televisions. The projects will entail investment of Rs. 300 crores and create job opportunities for over 10,000 people by 2017. PTI