Swipe India plans to build factories in Maharashtra to manufacture its devices and will invest about $3 – 4 million (Rs 20 – 30 crore) into the venture over the next two years. The company is aiming to get Rs 1000 crore in revenue by 2018.
Its strategy to do so consists of making products for the entry-level sub-Rs 10000 category. Swipe founder and CEO Shripal Gandhi envisions 25% of its income would come from tablets and the rest via smartphones. He claimed the brand is currently making 2 million units a year and experiencing growth of up to 250% particularly in the western and southern regions of India.
It joins the likes of Xiaomi, Samsung, Micromax and Spice, all of which have set up manufacturing units across the country as part of the government’s Make in India initiative. PTI reports that the subcontinent is one of the fastest growing markets for smartphones currently. People are switching to these devices as they’ve become increasingly more affordable over the past few years.
According to research firm IDC, India is set to grow in double digits and could even overtake the US as the second largest market for smartphones in the world. As per their data, handset shipment in the country had increased by over 44% to 26.5 million units in the April – June quarter this year. It makes sense to manufacture phones locally in such a rapidly budding environment.
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Swipe has also introduced a new budget handset called the Elite. It’s priced at Rs 5999 and decked out with a 5-inch display, a 2500mAh battery, a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, Android 5.0 Lollipop-based Freedom OS, 16GB of ROM, 2GB of RAM, a 13MP main camera and an 8MP selfie snapper. It’s set to be launched on August 19 exclusively via Flipkart.