New Delhi, May 2 (IANS) Mobile handset manufacturer Spice Mobility Monday said it would invest Rs.1,000 crore to ramp up its research and development facilities, creation of value-added services and to fund acquisitions in the current financial year.
‘The company will be investing Rs.1,000 crore during financial year 2011-12. It will be made through internal accruals of the company,’ B.K. Modi, chairman of Spice Mobility, told reporters here.
The company has also acquired a mobile phone company in Indonesia, Nexian and another company Sprint in Bangladesh for which it has not yet received regulatory clearance.
The company, which also has businesses in retail and value added service verticals, has tied up with several online companies including sulekha.com, naukri.com and yatra.com on a revenue-share basis to focussing on the mobile internet space to cater to the fast growing demand of internet among the youth, positioning it as ‘mobile internet company’.
‘Earlier, we were known as a mobile phone company. Now we have merged our various divisions like devices, retail and value-added services into one and focus on mobile internet. Our market capitalisation stood at Rs.2,400 crore,’ Modi added.
Sectors ranging from finance, education, entertainment and healthcare will evolve in to mobile business.
According to Modi, mobile internet can enable India to achieve double digit gross domestic product growth rate.
‘India has the largest youth population with 37 million under 14, greater than China’s 23 million, and 20 percent of the global youth population,’ he added.
Spice also showcased its new Android based dual SIM phone which will be launched the next week. Besides the company is also creating seven clusters in order to meet the regional business requirements and will employ 300 people in the regions.
