'Make in India’ pushing Indian mobile market to a new direction: Videocon Mobiles CEO

By Manishika Miglani

Gearing up to tap the burgeoning mobile phone market in the country, Videocon Mobiles is in the process of setting up mobile handset manufacturing plants in Hyderabad, Kolkata and Madurai, each with an investment of between Rs 40 crore and Rs 60 crore.

According to Jerold Pereira, CEO, Videocon Mobile Phones, the company’s future business strategies and manufacturing expansion plans are in line with the government's 'Make in India’ initiative.

Voice&Data caught up with him in an exclusive interview where he talked about this national initiative and factors required to consolidate the manufacturing-led scenario in the country.

Voice&Data: Brief us about your manufacturing centers and your expansion plans.

Jerold Pereira: Since its inception, Videocon has traditionally been a manufacturing-led group. The group has its local manufacturing units at Aurangabad and Kashipur. In addition to put in more assembly lines in these two plants, the group is aiming at increasing manufacturing capacity at its plants in Telangana and Tamil Nadu in the coming time, in line with the strategy to have much deeper distribution in the south.

Voice&Data: What kind of policies you expect from the government to boost the manufacturing eco-system in India?

Jerold Pereira: With national initiatives like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’, the government has already pushed the Indian mobile market to a completely new direction. The new policies like increment in service tax and import duty will help the mobile players in the long run. Though local manufacturing still lags behind the international markets like China and Taiwan, we can expect from the government to come up with policies, which will help to create an eco-system of manufacturing and technology sharing.

Voice&Data: What kind of financing options should be considered for mobiles and tablets for establishing India as global power in international mobile market?

Jerold Pereira: In order for India to become a true global power on the supply side for mobile devices, the government will have to start developing “technology parks” and a favourable investment environment that will encourage hardware, software and ancillary suppliers to build an eco-system and infrastructure to support end-to-end solutions. Right now, the focus is limited to “finishing”. India will have to move up the value chain, as China has started to do so, in all aspects, and not just become a known destination where people leverage cheaper labour for more cost-effective assembly.

Voice&Data: What is your go-to-market strategy for being competitive in comparison to the International mobile brands?

Jerold Pereira: As Indian mobile market is cluttered with several mobile players and service providers, our focus is to reach out to the consumers who believe in quality and innovation and confide in domestic brands. With understanding of local needs and market response, our go-to-market strategy always follows the consumer-first approach. With our manufacturing legacy and existing capabilities, as well as focused-market approach, we are very sure that in the coming months, Videocon mobile phones will become a recognized and respected player in the mobile handset space.

Voice&Data: The domestic handset players are mainly preferred for their budget series of smartphones. Do you foresee any major transition to the premium segment in terms of consumer behaviour?

Jerold Pereira: In the last couple of years, Indian mobile market has witnessed a significant shift from brand consciousness to affordability yet quality. While budget devices have been the biggest pull factor, consumers have created opportunities for several players to do business in India.

As consumers prefer affordability and rich features, domestic players like Videocon are catering to every segment whether its budget category or the premium segment. The transition in consumer behaviour for domestic players can be seen in the market as consumers have already established a huge market of premium budget smart devices.

Voice&Data: How do you plan to consolidate the 'Digital India' move?

Jerold Pereira: With our consumer-first approach, we aim to reach out to mass consumers and connect them with mobile and internet technology to bring the digital revolution in their hands. Affordability and quality being the pull factors of ‘Digital India’ initiative, we will continue to introduce a mass portfolio of smartphones and bring top smartphone features at a highly affordable pricing, thus supporting ‘Digital India’ in a strategic manner.