India's first mobile brand to be launched in Chennai

Now, India is calling you. For the first time, an Indian brand is entering the highly competitive mobile handset market with many big names such as Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Alcatel, Mitusbishi, Motorola, Panasonic, Philips, Siemens etc, pitching in the battle.

Launching India's first mobile brand is Chennai-based Munoth Industries Limited under the name `VK Munoth'. VK Corporation based in Seoul, South Korea is the contract manufacturer for the company. "Presently, we are introducing three models (all GSM handsets)--VG107, CG107 and VG207, in the market. And, there will be new additions at regular intervals to offer a wide range of products to the customers," said Vikas Munoth, Director, Munoth Industries Limited.

The products are positioned for the hi-end market and the company is looking at earning 1-2 percent market share in the first two years.

VG207, according to the company is the smallest color phone in the world with 65,000-color display. Though Samsung's True Eye has 65,000-color display but it is not as small as VG207. These phones are very sturdy, small, lightweight and available only in the clamshell model.

Munoth Industries Limited, a 10-year old company are also the exclusive national distributor for Siemens Mobile phones and accessories since 2001.

After positioning their brand well in the market, the company plans to set up a manufacturing unit in Chennai within a period of six months. The manufacturing facility would be used to produce handsets for both internal requirements and also for contract manufacturing for other brands who want to take advantage of the zero percent import duty on parts provided the phones are manufactured or assembled in India. According to Vikas Munoth, "The current budget is a blow to the grey market with the government taking off the excise duty on phones. Further, imported things will not be viable in India with the imposition of zero import duty on components and the state governments being allowed to collect additional sales tax. In such a scenario all the brands will prefer to manufacture mobile phones in India." 

VK Munoth mobile phones come with features like password protected key pad lock, Dual blue LCD display, 26 polyphonic ring tones, 38 screen savers, 10 caller groups etc. Bio Rhythm and Pink Schedule are two rare features of this handset. Bio Rhythm keeps track of your physical, emotional and intellectual rhythm and checks compatibility with your companion on daily basis. This is done on feeding your date of birth. Similarly another different feature targeted at women is the Pink Schedule where women can set their menstrual period and track their biological cycles. The stand by time/talk time for the slim battery (620 Mhz) is 100/2.5 hours and for the standard battery is 100/3 hours. 

"We plan to reach out to nearly 1800-2000 shops across the country through our 20 regional distributors spread across India.

We were the ones to develop Siemens network in India," he said. According to Munoth, they will continue being the national distributors of Siemens. Rather VK Munoth and Siemens will operate as two separate divisions and compete with each other like cats and dogs. 

Currently the Munoth handsets will be available only on the GSM technology, though at a later period the company would go in for CDMA handsets. "We are not wedded to any particular technology. In my personal opinion CDMA and GSM will integrate maybe after 6-7 months."

VG107 and CG107 will be available at Rs 12,900 in almost all states except for Kerala (Rs 13,600) and Mumbai (Rs 13,300). VG207 is priced at Rs 18,500 in almost all states.

Nisha Kurian


(CNS)