Celkon Group, a mobile and electronics manufacturer, has acquired Touch Mobiles, an electronics retail chain with 42 outlets in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for an undisclosed consideration.
The company is planning to expand the Touch Mobile business through a franchise model. “To start with, we are going to set up 200 outlets in the Southern States and in Maharashtra. We would like to take it to other parts of the country in phases,” Y Guru, Chairman and Managing Director of Celkon group, has said.
To make the franchises sustainable, the company would set up an institute in Hyderabad to train 1,000 ITI (Industrial Training Institute) students in electronics repair and servicing. “They will get a six-month training. We will help them forge revenue-sharing agreements with the Touch Mobile franchises that we are going roll out this year,” he said.
“Apart from the franchise stores, we would like to set up 50 company-owned stores. A good number of them would completely be managed by women,” he told businessline.
Touch Mobiles registered a turnover of ₹200 crore last year.
Group plans
Guru said the group registered a turnover of ₹2,600 crore. “With orders for mobile phones, tablets, and interactive flat panels (IFPs) from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments, we are hoping to touch the ₹5,000-crore turnover in 2023-25,” he said.
He said the Union Government’s mandate for foreign manufacturers to have a joint venture with an Indian partner having 51 per cent stake in it would help the company. “We have recently set up Sprint Electronics, a joint venture with HKC, a leading panel manufacturer in the world, to manufacture TVs,” he said.
Similarly, the company is going to enter a partnership with an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) to manufacture IFPs, which is attracting good traction from State governments for deployment in the education sector.