After Jio, Ambani Aims To Disrupt Smartphone Market With Rs 4,000 Devices

Reliance Industries Ltd. has managed to disrupt the wireless services in the country over the years with the inception of Jio. Next, the company might be looking at a major chunk of the entry-level smartphones in India.?

For the same, it has reportedly asked local suppliers to ramp up production capacity in India.

Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani (Image": Reuters)

A new?report by Bloomberg?sheds light on the same. As per the report, Reliance is targeting as many as 200 million smartphones over the next two years. As and when this happens, the company is poised to stand as a tough competitor to other smartphone majors in the country.??

The most valuable company in India, Reliance is reported to be in talks with domestic assemblers to come up with a new version of its Jio phone. The new smartphone will reportedly run on Google's Android and will retail for around Rs 4,000. The idea is to offer the inexpensive phones along with low-cost wireless plans from Reliance Jio.

The business strategy will be the same as was with Jio - offer a simple product for the new smartphone user base at an aggressive pricing. The report highlights that the new business venture will also be in line with Indian government’s plan to to increase domestic manufacturing and cut down on imports.

(Image: Reuters)

"We are of course trying to build our domestic companies. We have a sweet spot in entry level phones," Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman of the India Cellular & Electronic Association, was quoted as saying in the report. "The world has realized that India is a great place to do business and a great place to do manufacturing also."

Needless to say, a target of selling 150 million to 200 million phones over two years would lead to a massive boost in local production of smartphones. As per Mohindroo's association, India assembled an estimated 165 million smartphones in the last fiscal year. Around a fifth of these smartphones cost less than Rs 7,000.

Some reports indicate that Reliance might be looking to outsource the production of its upcoming smartphones. If so, India-based OEMs might also get a huge boost in Reliance’s plans to dominate the Indian smartphone market.