Thaindian News

Kolkata, Nov 22 (IANS) Sharp Business Systems (India) Limited (SBSIL), a subsidiary of Sharp Corporation, expects its turnover to grow to Rs.500 crore in 2010-11 and to Rs.1,200 crore by 2011-12 as its mobile handset business gains strength, according to a top company official.

“We had a turnover of Rs.400 crore in 2009-10. We are expecting the figure to go up to Rs.500 crore in 2010-11. And we hope to grow more than double to over Rs.1,200 crore in 2011-12, of which we expect Rs.500 crore-Rs.700 crore to come from our mobile handset business,” company managing director Sunil Kumar Sinha said here Monday.

Speaking at the launch of its mobile handset business in India, Sinha said the company was targeting high-end customers in the segment and had set its eyes on selling one million handsets by 2011-12.

“We don’t have any product in the sub-Rs.5,000 category. So, no matter how hard we try, 74 percent of the mass market will be beyond our reach. In the rest 26 percent, in the first year we would be lucky to have a market share of three percent,” he said.

The company has now unveiled four models ranging from Rs.6,500 to Rs.18,000. “In the year to follow, our market share will gallop rapidly as we unveil new models periodically,” he said.

At present, two of the four models are in the Rs.5,000-Rs.10,000 category, which will be the major thrust area of the company in the coming days.

Sharp Business Systems (India) now imports most of its products, and does not have any visible manufacturing investment. “But in Pune, where CRT monitors are being manufactured, we hope to start manufacturing LCD television sets within a month or two,” said Sinha.

In the mobile handset segment also, the company will depend on imports from Japan and China, “as we start building volumes for the first one year or so”, Sinha said.

However, Sinha did not rule out the possibility of setting up a manufacturing unit in future.

“We also sell mobile components to various manufacturers. Our mobile components business constitutes about 20 percent of our total business,” he said.

Asked about SBSIL’s business projection in eastern India from the mobile handset segment, he said: “We hope to have 19-20 percent of the sales from eastern India.”

The company is into digital multi-function products, multi-media projects and LCD display solutions in India. It is now focussing on the IT sector to provide Complete Business Solutions with its new range of products.

The multinational Sharp Corporation had a turnover of $30 billion last year. It has 23 manufacturing units spread across US, Britain, Spain, France, Poland, Middle East, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and India.

In the mobile business, it is the leader in Japan with a market share of 28 percent.