LG to make smartphones in India if it achieves growth

South Korean handset maker LG Electronics will set up its manufacturing plants and start producing its smartphones in India after it achieves a 10% market share, LG India Managing Director Soon Kwon told the Economic Times.

The company also plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore in 2015 on research and development (R&D) and marketing.

"I reckon G4 is one of the best smartphones introduced in India lately. Leveraging this, my aim is to double our market share and increase the contribution of the mobile business to 15% towards our overall revenue," Soon Kwon told the financial daily.

The company managing director further said: "Once we hit the 10% market share (in cellphones), manufacturing will eventually follow."

Kwon didn't share more details on LG's handset manufacturing plans.

The company currently has a market share just under 5%, as per market research firm GfK. Its mobile business contributes around 10% toward overall India revenue.

The South Korean company has two manufacturing units in the country that produce all its white goods, including refrigerators and ACs.

LG joins a host of overseas handset makers including Xiaomi, Motorola and Asus, apart from homebred ones such as Micromax, Lava, Intex and Karbonn, that are examining local manufacturing plans.

LG will aggressively expand its smartphone range with 20 new devices across various price segments by the end of December 2015. It currently offers eight 4G smartphones, which Kwon said was the most by a single company in the Indian market.

On Friday, LG has come up with its dual-SIM flagship 4G LTE smartphone, the G4, priced at Rs 51,000.

Kwon said the company aims to sell 1 lakh G4s in the next three months. "Indian R&D contributed significantly towards development of this device. It's the first premium phone with dual 4G SIM support," he said.
(Image: Reuters)