IndiaRetailBiz

Leveraging on the unprecedented boom witnessed by telecom industry in the country, which has seen over six million mobile phones being added every month, Ruias owned Essat group has decided to undertake aggressive expansion of its mobile handset and accessories business done under the brand name of  MobileStore.

MobileStore, which is currently operating 325 stores, will add 425 stores this fiscal (within 4 months) to take the tally of stores to 750. It will further add 1,750 outlets to the retail network thereafter to take the final tally of retail outlets across the country to 2,500 stores in the next three years, says a PTI report. The pan-India network will be spread across 600 towns and cities including tier-II cities, though emphasis initially will be on cities in the Northern zone. 

The company expecting to take its turnover to Rs. 800 crore by March, 2008 is aiming to achieve an ambitious six-fold increase in sales by March, 2009. It expects to touch the sales of Rs. 5,000 crore  by March, 2009. This was stated by Rajiv Aggarwal, MobileStore’s CEO and Director. 

MobileStore has tied up with leading cellular operators such as Airtel, BPL, Idea, MTNL, BSNL, and Reliance. For handsets, it has tied up among others with Nokia, Motorola, Sony, Samsung, LG, and ZTE.

Mobile phone business, currently estimated at Rs. 50,000 crore according to Aggarwal, is growing at an enormous pace of 60 per cent per annum.