Hong Kong electronics brand iVoomi plans to invest about US$38 million in the Indian market.

It aims to strengthen its foothold through alliances with technology and retail companies.

Founded in 2001, iVoomi has a product portfolio covering five categories. “Our mission is to establish iVoomi as the most preferred smartphone brand for entry-level users,” says CEO Ashwin Bhandari.

“We are predominantly focussing on delivering disruptive features and an ultimate experience for our users at a nominal cost.”

In the first of two phases, the company will invest in futuristic technologies, aiming to offer advanced products at an affordable price. It will set up its manufacturing unit in India and also plans to bolster its online retail penetration across lower-tier towns across India.

The second phase of the investment, in 2018-2019, will focus on R&D and marketing. It will also involve expanding the company’s manufacturing capacity in India. All its R&D work is now done in China, and the company plans to launch its Indian centre by 2019.

To accelerate end-to-end product development for the Indian market, 60 per cent of the total investment will to toward the R&D sector. The company has been working with technology giants like Asahi, Galaxycore, Intel, MediaTek, OmniVision, Qualcomm and Samsung to develop future-ready products.

iVoomi has tied up with more than 500 service centres in India and plans to launch an extensive portfolio of smartphones in India by the next quarter.

With more than 300 million smartphone users in India, iVoomi faces major competition from its Chinese competitors Huawai, Lenovo and Xiaomi.