Gionee plans to sell all India made phones in domestic market

New Delhi: Smartphone maker Gionee on Thursday said it plans to start assembling all mobile phones in India by March, 2016, which will be sold exclusively in the domestic market.

"By March, 2016 we expect to assemble all phones that will be sold in India at two outsourced locations in the country. So, we will be selling all 'Made in India' phones in India. We will have first such phone before Diwali," Gionee India Country CEO and MD Arvind R Vohra said here.

The company has partnered with Dixon Technologies and Foxconn for making phones in the country, with an investment of over Rs 300 crore in next three years.

He was speaking on the sidelines of launching dual sim 4G smartphone, Gionee Elife E8, which has 24 megapixel (MP) rear camera, which the company claims, will be able to produce photographs with a resolution of 1200 megapixel.

"Gionee's Elife E8 is built to perform like a professional camera for today's user. Additionally, India is an important market for us. Gionee phones will come up with customised features for Indian consumers," Gionee President Willian Lu said.

The Elife E8 has 8 MP front camera. The phone has six inch display, octa-core chipset, fingerprint recognition feature, 64 GB internal memory, 3 GB RAM and 3500 mAH battery with fast charging feature.

Vohra said the company has dedicated a 12 member team to customise phones to meet the needs of Indian customers.

The Gionee Elife E8 will go on sale in India from October 12 exclusively through e-commerce platform Snapdeal for Rs 34,999 and later it will also be available through retail stores.

"We will see response on Snapdeal and accordingly work out strategy for offline sales," Vohra added.

When asked about stiff competition for the company due to low cost 4G phones, he said that low cost phones with small screen and low battery life can be provided but it will compromise with customer experience.

"Those who can afford 4G will not like to compromise on their experience. There are minimum basic things that are required in 4G phones. We will not cut down price at the cost of customer experience," Vohra said.