Lava to invest Rs 1,100 cr to boost electronics components manufacturing

Home-grown mobile phone maker Lava International plans to invest Rs 1,100 crore over the next 5 years to diversify its presence in the electronics components ecosystem, a senior company official said on Thursday.Lava Executive Director and Chief Manufacturing Officer Sanjeev Agarwal said the company has established a new mobile charger facility as part of its diversification in the electronics components ecosystem.We have the capacity to make 4 crore mobile phones.

Home-grown mobile phone maker Lava International plans to invest Rs 1,100 crore over the next 5 years to diversify its presence in the electronics components ecosystem, a senior company official said on Thursday.

Lava Executive Director and Chief Manufacturing Officer Sanjeev Agarwal said the company has established a new mobile charger facility as part of its diversification in the electronics components ecosystem.

''We have the capacity to make 4 crore mobile phones. We have decided to make all critical components ourselves for value addition. We have plans to invest Rs 1,100 crore in electronics components diversification over the next 5 years,'' he said.

As part of its diversification, Lava has started production of designed-in-India mobile chargers with locally sourced components, according to Agarwal.

''All components have been sourced locally. The cost of the chargers that will be produced at our factory is 20 per cent lower compared to units that we were using earlier,'' Agarwal said.

The facility was inaugurated on Thursday by Uttar Pradesh government electronics and IT minister Sunil Kumar Sharma.

Lava's new component manufacturing unit currently employs over 3,000 workers. It has a production capacity of 2 crore. The company plans to produce 90 lakh units annually and further expand it at the rate of 90 lakh per annum.

''We have plans to generate employment for nearly 8,500 people at this plant,'' said Agarwal.

The company plans to start production of camera modules, display modules, enclosures and multi-layered printed circuit boards as part of its diversification plan, he added.

Lava International Managing Director Sunil Raina said that the company has submitted its components manufacturing proposal for the approval of the government under the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme.