Keeping the government’s vision of Make in India initiative in mind, Lava, domestic handset vendor will invest ₹500 crore to set up a manufacturing plant in Tirupati. Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, earlier this week, had laid the foundation stone for a dedicated mobile handset and electronics manufacturing facility.
According to officials, apart from Lava, the facility will house brands like Micromax, Celkon and Karbonn.
As per reports, the manufacturing plant will be operational in 2017 and will target production capacity of five million phones per month. Set up over 20 acres of land allotted by the government, the facility will aim to generate employment for 12,000 people.
Lava’s existing manufacturing unit in Noida was commenced six months back. They have a monthly capacity of one million units. In July, Lava had said, over the next 7 years it will invest ₹2,615 crore to set up two manufacturing units in India and the units will have a combined capacity of 18 million handsets per month.
In India, global handset makers like Samsung and domestic players like Micromax and Spice have assembly units. Interestingly, international players like Xiaomi, Asus and Gionee have announced assembly units in India in partnership with electronics major Foxconn in Andhra Pradesh.
India is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world and handset makers are looking to tap the multi-billion dollar opportunity. The Indian handset industry is poised to overtake the US as the second-largest market in next few years. After Samsung (23 per cent), Micromax (17 per cent) and Intex (11 per cent), Lava ranks fourth in the tally with 7 per cent market share.
