New Delhi: Gionee will spend about Rs 225 crore on marketing in the coming financial year, starting with the Indian Premier League where the Chinese smartphone maker has inked a three-year deal with Shahrukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 54 crore.
The device maker is expecting to close the 2014-15 financial year with revenue of Rs 2,750 crore, a growth of over five times from Rs 500 crore the year before, even as it considers manufacturing phones in India with the government offering tax incentives to make locally.
“Our marketing efforts will focus on brand building in 2015,” said Arvind Vohra, head of India business for Gionee. “We have a 4% market share, as per GfK, and we intend to double it in 2015”.
The company replaces Nokia as the principal sponsor for Kolkata Knight Riders and will put in an additional Rs 20 crore for picking up advertising slots throughout the cricket tournament which begins next month. It has spent Rs 132 crore on marketing this fiscal which closes in a few days from now.
Having sold 3.54 million smartphones from January to December 2014, the company which competes with Chinese peers Xiaomi, Oppo, One Plus and local handset makers including Micromax, Karbonn and Lava, is planning to begin assembling devices in India. Consulting firm Ernst & Young has been tasked with feasibility study for local manufacturing.
While Samsung makes majority of its smartphones in India, and plans to add the latest and S6 Edge in India, Nokia’s smartphone factory still remains a bone of contention due to an ongoing tax row with the government.
However, the country is getting a fair bit of interest from smartphone makers including China’s largest smartphone brand Xiaomi which wants to begin making phones from India within the next two years. The world’s fourth largest smartphone maker Huawei which makes telecom gear in India, has also begun evaluations of making devices locally. Gionee may look to invest around Rs 300 crore for setting up the manufacturing facility in India.
However, local manufacturing requires a large ecosystem of component makers, which is limited at present.
