Gionee has taken a step further for consolidating its presence in the Indian market by soon setting up a manufacturing plant in the country, which the company feels, should be operational in 2 years’ time. This manufacturing unit is meant to serve the African and South-East Asian markets as well, other than the expanding Indian market. Investment into this North-India based manufacturing unit is stated to be about INR 500 crore, and Gionee also reveals that INR 400 crore are being pumped in for marketing and branding activities, half of which has already been spent, and INR 200 crore meant for the festive season alone.
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Arvind Vohra, the CEO and Managing Director of Gionee India, shed some basic details about the production plant, saying, “We are in process of getting land in northern India. The 50-acre unit have an annual capacity of 30 million units. It should be operational in about two years,” further adding, “It will be an end-to-end manufacturing unit. It will help us cater to demand in India as well as nearby markets and African region… We will invest about INR 500 crore on the plant.” At present, around 60 per cent of the Gionee devices in the market are manufactured at facilities run by Foxconn and Dixon. But the market status has managed to prep up the phonemaker for bigger plans in the country.
According to figures by IDC, smartphone shipments in India have gone up by 17.1 per cent during the April-June quarter, which translates into 27.5 million units, and they have been led by Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Lenovo, and Gionee and Vivo playing crucial roles. In terms of shares of this revival story, Samsung has led the pack with 25.1 per cent growth followed by Micromax at 12.9 per cent, Lenovo at 7.7 per cent, Intex at 7.1 per cent and Reliance Jio at 6.8 per cent.
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The next big step forward is in the direction of marketing and branding activities. Right now, Gionee sells around 500,000 units per month, and by year-end it hopes to target 1 million units a month for its phones. This is the reason why the budget for marketing, has been synchronized with the festive season in India, towards the latter half of the year, regarding which Arvind Vohra said, “We had earmarked a budget of INR 600 crore this year and we have utilized one-third of it till now. About INR 200 crore will be pumped in the festive season and the remaining amount will be used in the latter part of the fiscal towards various marketing and branding efforts,” Vohra said. Gionee India has signed up Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt as its brand ambassador and is in discussions for signing up another celebrity but that is yet to be finalized.”