Intex Tech sees 50% growth in revenue this fiscal

Electronics maker Intex Technologies expects revenue to rise by around 50 percent to reach Rs 6,500 crore this fiscal, a senior official of the company said.

The home grown firm says that the growth is coming back to business after a "turmoil" due to shift of consumer choice to 4G phones from 3G devices and demonetisation drive. The company plans to launch 4G VoLTE devices priced under Rs 7,000 and a 4G feature phone at Rs 1,999 by October to tap the growing demand and fuel its revenue growth. "Last year we had revenue of around Rs 4,300 crore and this year we are expecting business of Rs 6,500 crore," Intex Technologies, Director and Business Head, Nidhi Markanday told PTI.

Talking about the "turmoil", she said that none of the Indian brand had readiness to enter the 4G segment. "The turmoil (in the industry) started with conversion of 3G to 4G handsets with the coming of Jio. All the Indian brands were stuck with 3G inventories. None of the Indian brand had readiness to enter the 4G segment," she said. "It took us good 8-10 months to streamline our portfolio for 4G phones ... demonetisation added to this turmoil. Now Intex is very much ready to cater to consumers," she said.

While Indian brands were caught up with 3G mobile phone inventories, Chinese players started launching series of 4G VoLTE handsets at aggressive prices, Intex said. Markanday said that Intex will launch five models of 4G VoLTE smartphones by October priced under 7,000 with 5-8 megapixel camera, 2,400-3,200 mAH battery. The company has also launched six 4G VoLTE smartphones in last three months. "We are looking at around 40-50 percent growth in smartphones sales volumes and 10-20 percent in feature phones," Markanday said.

Intex will also launch its 4G VoLTE feature phone for Rs 1,999 a unit by October.

Markanday said Intex has now become the largest maker of speakers in India and it is ramping up its facility to make LED TVs, washing machines, refrigerator and air- conditioner.

"We have five manufacturing units and going to start sixth unit in Kasna in another 6-8 months where we will make LED TV, washing machine and refrigerator along with mobile phones," she said.

Intex also expects over two-fold increase in business in overseas markets- Russia, Nepal, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Qatar, in the current fiscal, she said.