Keen to grab a share of the competitive Indian mobile handset market, telecom and handset major Motorola is now also planning to establish an assembling plant for mobile phones in the country.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Motorola, Edward J Zander told reporters in Bangalore that the 31 billion dollar company would do everything possible to tap the India market. But he added that the setting up of the plant would depend upon market growth potential in India.
“We will look into that, the infrastructure side we are looking at potential areas on backhand assembly, distribution. Manufacturing always questions what is your market share, how much you are selling. We are getting our market share up on these devices before we commit to manufacturing,” said Zander.
Nokia currently commands a 65 percent share of the market which experts believe will result in sale of 34 million handsets this year, up 62 per cent over 2004. Motorola meanwhile is hoping to attract first time mobile phone users with its dirt cheap 40 dollar phones, which are also feature rich.
The company expects to add 1,000 more engineers to its existing 2,900-strong engineering team in India by the end of 2006.
In another announcement, Zander said that Motorola had no plans to increase its dividend despite a growing cash pile, but expects to sustain its share buyback programme.
“We continue to buy stocks back. We have not increased our dividend nor do we plan to. We have done small acquisition throughout the past couple of years. And, we will continue to use cash to buy intellectual property and intellectual capital,” Zander added.
Pages: 1 2
Send an E-Mail for India Property Enquiry!
Related News from India Properties
Motorola to set up back-end operations in India
Motorola Inc has plans to set up back-end operations such as assembling of semi-knocked down units of mobile handsets in India, said the company chairman and chief executive officer Edward J Zander. Back-end operations and distribution should come here (in India) before manufacturing, Mr Zander said, when asked about the companys manufacturing plans in India. However, he declined to divulge further details on the plan. Addressing the media, he said that the company would have to grow the Indian market sufficiently before it could make investments towards manufacturing handsets here. The (sales) volumes have to go the way it is
LG Electronics India to invest 9 bln rupees in Pune
LG Electronics India said on Tuesday it will invest 9 billion rupees ($205 million) to expand its plant in Pune, including setting up a DVD writer manufacturing facility. The DVD unit, which will be Asia's second-largest DVD writer plant, will start production from the second quarter of 2006 and it expects to produce 33 million units by 2008. LG will spend 4 billion rupees on the DVD writer project and aims to have a $66 million turnover from it by 2008. The Indian operation will become an export hub for LG's DVD writers catering to the European market, it said. LG Electronics will
Kanishk Steel to set up Rs 73 cr plants in Chennai
Kanishk Steel Industries Ltd, part of the Rs 500 crore OPG Enterprises group, has drawn up a Rs 72.50 crore investment plan to set up a coal-based sponge iron plant and a captive power generation plant at Gummidipoondi, near Chennai. In a company press statement, Ravi Gupta, chairman and managing director, Kanishk Steel Industries Ltd, said, “We are in the process of setting up a 12 MW captive power generation plant near to the sponge iron plant at the cost of Rs 48 crore for generating power.” The company has invested Rs 24.50 crore for making sponge iron
Bangalore’s Rail Wheel Factory eyes exports
The Railway Wheel Factory (RWF) here has inked in a new plant, turnkey solutions and more exports in its future spin. "The Railway Board is considering our proposal for setting up a new plant at Chapra in Bihar so that the country is self-sufficient in wheel requirements," said RWF general manager Sudha Chobe. "The project will cost around Rs.1 billion ($21.8 million) and will augment the capacity of the Bangalore plant by nearly 50 percent," Chobe told IANS. "The plant would be a prototype of the parent factory and is likely to be functional within the next five years. "The RWF here manufactures nearly
Hero Honda to set up plant near Jaipur
After nearly a year of intense evaluation, the world's largest two-wheeler maker, Hero Honda, has zeroed in on Rajasthan to set up its third plant in the country. Sources in the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation confirmed this, and said land had been identified in Kukas, on the outskirts of Jaipur. Hero Honda currently has two major facilities, one in Gurgaon and the other in Dharuhera, both in Haryana, with a total annual capacity of 3 million units. “We are in the process of acquiring some land in Rajasthan. We are not in a position