Ringing Bell’s Freedom 251 was officially launched by BJP MP Dr Murali Manohar Joshi in the midst of a large gathering of journalists and mobile phone distributors at Nehru Park in New Delhi.
Let’s look at the business model, Make in India plans and investment, market share and future plans of Ringing Bells, the new smartphone company which has made lot of noise before the launch of its 3G smartphone.
Business Model: Leveraging technology with economies of scale and some intrinsic innovations in marketing. Freedom 251 similar configuration smartphone will costs Rs 2,500 in the market. First, manufacturing Freedom 251 smartphones in India will lead to a saving of Rs 400 due to 13.8 percent duty. Second, online selling will help in further reduction of cost of selling by another Rs 500. Third, economies of scale will give the company a further advantage of Rs 500. Fourth, marketing innovation i.e. use by other companies to piggyback on Freedom 251 platform will give them a further advantage of Rs 800. So in toto, the company benefit to the tune of Rs 2,200.
Make in India Plans: Ringing Bells is beginning with assembly of smartphones in Noida. The company is planning to have two manufacturing plants one each in Uttarakhand and Noida and is in advance dialogue with technology suppliers for Make in India i.e. mobile manufacturing in India. To meet its demand, the company needs five manufacturing plants and after energizing two manufacturing facilities will wait to see whether GST Bill is implemented.
Make In India Investment: An investment of Rs 500 crore will be required for setting two mobile manufacturing facilities with a capacity of 5 Lakh units per month. Each facility will require an investment of Rs 230 – Rs 250 crore. We have arranged promoter funding and we will look at debt funding for setting up two mobile manufacturing units. The company is planning to procure chipset from Taiwan. For non-chipset, the company is looking at indigenisation of 70 percent in the first year and 100 percent indigenisation in the second year.
Freedom 251 Booking: Freedom 251 booking starts on 18th February at 6 AM and ends on 21st February at 8 PM. The delivery of Freedom 251 smartphones will be completed by 30th June, 2016. To service Freedom 251, the company also has 650+ service centers pan India for after market services. In the first sale, the company is looking at anything between 250,000 – 300,000 units of Freedom 251.
Freedom 251 Specifications: Freedom 251 processor has 1.3 GHz Quadcore processor Spreadtrum 7731 chipset, 4-inchWVGA IPS, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB internal memory, 3.2 MP back camera and 0.3 MP front camera and 1450 mAh battery.
Market Share: Presently, Indian market consumes 2 crores per month and the company is planning to acquire 30 percent market share in 12 months timeframe.
Ringing Bells Team: The promoter is Mohit Goel who hails from an old and established family with a strong heritage of dealing in agro-commodity products over last 36 years anchored in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Mohit Goel’s prime experience is of a strong connect in the dealer and retailer network of semi-urban and rural India. Mohit Goel is a graduate form Western Sydney University and MBA from Amity (AUUP) and has garnered strong sales and marketing experience serving as general manager for a multi-national communications company.
Ashok Chadha has a rich experience of 46 years in industry encompassing basic chemicals, automobiles, financial services and petrochemicals. He has worked with leading companies in various geographies including India, Australia, Indonesia, China, UK and USA. He has in depth knowledge of various verticals and functions including: Manufacturing, technical, finance, marketing, sales, HR & admin.
Future Plans: In next 1-2 years, the company is planning to launch Bell SIM. Initially, the focus is India but later the company has plans to launch product globally.
It would be interesting to see how Ringing Bells delivers on the promise and executes its plan in days to come.