Karbonn Mobiles charts out aggressive expansion plans for India

Company Brief

New Delhi, October 12, 2009

Karbonn Mobiles, a company that redefines mobility with its wide range of attractively priced multimedia phones unveiled its aggressive and ambitious expansion plans for the growth of the Karbonn brand in India. The company aims to capture a market share of 7 % - 10 % in India in the multimedia phone segment in the current fiscal. The company today expanded its portfolio by launching its new range of multimedia devices for the Indian market, in the price range of Rs. 2000/ to Rs. 5000/-.

Karbonn Mobiles is a joint venture between Delhi based Jaina Group and Bangalore based UTL Group. Jain Group is currently engaged in national distribution of HTC Mobile Phones in India & South Asia and Motorola and LG Mobile Phones in India. Jaina Group currently has over 350 employees and a network of 28 domestic and overseas branches actively engaged in mobile phones business with a turnover of around Rs. 1000 crores. The UTL Group is a multi division telecom powerhouse with interests that span across manufacturing, services and distribution.

Karbonn Mobiles has also announced that it has already made an investment of US $ 5 million for product development and its marketing and sales operations for the Karbonn range of mobile phones. This is one of the largest investments by any indigenous entity in India in a short span of five months in the mobile phone segment. The company is aiming for revenues in excess of Rs. 1000 crore from its operations in the current fiscal year.

Karbonn has announced that it has already covered Bangladesh as the first country in its launch initiative for South Asia and will shortly cover Sri Lanka and Nepal as well. The company also intends to launch Karbonn Mobiles in Middle East and Africa in the first quarter of the financial year 2010.

In keeping with enhancing its multi-nation reach, Karbonn Mobiles has become the proud official sponsors of Cape Cobras and associate sponsors of Diamond Eagles, the leading domestic cricket teams of South Africa. The company has also become the co-sponsors of Sri Lanka’s premier domestic cricket team, Wayamba Elevens. The team features some of Sri Lankan cricket’s leading superstars including Mahela Jayawardena, Ajantha Mendis, Farveez Maharoof, Jehan Mubarak among others.

Mr. Pradeep Jain, Managing Director, Jaina Group said, “Karbonn Mobiles aims to be a leading mobile phone company in India offering unmatched quality and features at attractive price points. We intend to address the value for money seeking Indian consumer who is keen on having an array of advanced mobile phone features at competitive prices.”

“We have already launched around 20 models in India in a short span of time and going forward we intend to launch 3 to 4 devices every quarter in various segments like multimedia, touchscreens and dual SIMs” he added.

Enthused by strong sales volumes achieved in a short span of time, Karbonn is also contemplating setting up SKD-kit based manufacturing operations in India after reaching a critical sales volumes of around 1 million handsets per month in 2010-11.

According to Mr. Sudhir Hasija, Managing Director, UTL Group, “Karbonn Mobiles is a fruition of UTL Group and Jaina Group sharing the same vision of enriching and enhancing the communication experience of mobile phone users and we are extremely proud to have entered into this joint venture. As a brand, Karbonn Mobiles will strive to cater to the entire gamut of mobile phone users with the latest trends, state-of-the-art technology and newer innovations. We have already set very high goals for ourselves and will put in our best efforts to take the Karbonn brand from strength to strength.”

Karbonn Mobiles have been launched in India with distribution network covering around 80% of the districts in the states all over India. Currently, Karbonn is available through 50000 outlets across the country and the company plans to double this number by the end of current fiscal year. The company is also in the advanced stages of establishing 5 to 10 exclusive Karbonn mobile stores in all the major states of India by the end of the current financial year and has already launched this initiative by unveiling the first of such stores in Kerala and Assam last month.

Karbonn Mobiles is supported by its extensive service network of 500 service centres across the length and breadth of the country, out of which 150 are dedicated Karbonn Mobiles service centres and the rest are supported by the service partners of the company.

For further information, please contact:

Prem Subedi

I Connectenterprise PR

Mobile: 9810868873

Email: prem@iconnectenterprise.com