Another Chinese brand about to enter India’s mobile handset market

Off recently, we have seen several Chinese original device makers (ODMs), who earlier used to make devices for Indian brands like Micromax, Lava, Karbonn and Intex etc., trying their luck in the Indian mobile handset market. To keep the inflow going, another Chinese brand, named TopWise Communication, is all set to enter the world’s fastest growing mobile phone market.

TopWise used to make a majority of Micromax's phones, and is now bringing its Comio brand to the market, possibly by mid-August. It has come with plans to invest Rs 500 crore in the next one year on local manufacturing, R&D and marketing.

Even though India’s mobile handset industry is growing at a rapid rate, over half of the market is ironically captured by Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Lenovo who have pushed the Indian brands down to secure four out of top five leading names.

For Comio, TopWise would initially launch four smartphone models in the Rs 6,000 to 12,000 range, with a target of selling 1 lakh units per month within a couple of years, as told by Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, CEO & Director at Comio.

"Comio will have company-owned sales team and service network and it will be hiring 200 people in the first year, of which 150 will be in sales," said Kalirona told ET.

(Image source MobileScout)