Intex to invest Rs 100 cr in retail biz

New Delhi: Electronics company Intex Technologies will invest Rs 100 crore in its new retail venture for opening 60 exclusive stores in the country by 2011, besides planning to enter international markets this financial year.

The company also said it expects to double its sales to Rs 800 crore this fiscal and is planning to introduce CDMA phones and UPS with advanced features later this year.

“Our retail venture is our next phase of building relationship with our customers and our channel partners. We plan to open 60 exclusive stores by 2011 and for this we have earmarked an investment of Rs 100 crore,” Intex Technologies Executive Vice Chairman Ramesh A Vaswani said.

He said the fund will be used to convert its existing stores to exclusive ones, revamping them and training sales persons.

The company will be opening the outlets in B and C class cities, including Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Surat, Rampur and Patna.

Besides expanding its base in the domestic market, Intex Technologies is also planning to expand into the international markets this fiscal.

“We are planning to introduce our products, especially our mobile phone and home UPS in the SAARC countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka and in some African countries. We have set the team in place,” Vaswani said.

On the back of its retail venture and new products including its recently launched dual SIM phones and netbooks Intex Technologies expects to double its sales to Rs 800 crore this fiscal.

“We had sales of over Rs 400 crore last fiscal. This fiscal we expect to achieve around Rs 750 crore... Besides, we have lined up a few launches, including some high end products as well,” Vaswani said.

The company has recently launched a dual GSM SIM phone and a range of netbooks. It has recently expanded into the South Indian cities for its mobile business.

“Our mobile business is growing very fast. By this fiscal, it will contribute 22-25 per cent in our overall business and this is a significant figure for the company,” he said.

Intex Technologies has 26 product groups including desktops, notebooks, GSM mobile phones and DVD players among others. Its products are currently available in 120-130 shop-in-shops across the country.