Post delivering numerous blockbuster movies and running a popular clothing brand, Bollywood actor and entrepreneur Salman Khan is now planning to shake up the lucrative smartphone market of India. According to a report in Economic Times, the actor has started building his executive team and is currently working through initial procedures to set up his own smartphone brand in the country.
The report, citing executives aware of the matter, says that Salman had been mulling over the decision to start his smartphone brand for several years. He’s even said to have floated the idea to Indian smartphone brands and some even showed interest, but eventually backed out due to the high royalty charges being demanded. A couple years have passed since then and the superstar is now adamant about debuting his own-brand smartphones.
Salman Khan, the founder of the Being Human clothing brand, has already started dialling in a band of investors to raise initial capital to start operations and launch the brand. The actor is planning to run the show himself, thus, plans to take up a majority shareholding directly or through his family members. He has also started building out his operational management team, which includes hires from prominent phone brands such as Samsung and Micromax, says the report.
Further, the Bollywood star plans to carry forward the Being Human lineage and has registered the trademark ‘Being Smart’ for his smartphone lineup. He has also selected a Chinese manufacturing plant along with the range of smartphones he is planning to debut under his moniker. These devices, powered by Android, will be targetted towards the entry-to-mid level market. This means that the actor is looking to launch phones costing under Rs. 20,000.
Talking about the actor’s plans, one of the source says,
BeingSmart will be positioned against the Chinese smartphone brigade — Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi — at a time domestic handset makers such as Micromax and Intex are facing tremendous competition.
And, like the Being Human apparel line, proceeds from the profit will be ploughed back into charity and social work that Salman Khan does with his Being Human Foundation.
Further, for those unaware, Salman Khan has not only set up but is also the strongest force behind charitable trust organization Being Human. Launched in 2007, the foundation has been working in areas of education and healthcare for the underprivileged. The funds for this organization comes primarily from the Being Human’s parent Mandhana Retail. It pays 5 percent royalty on sales to the Being Human Foundation. Similar would be the deal for Salman’s phone brand as well.
Salman Khan is currently working on sketching out the finer details for his smartphone brand with the executives and members of his family. The said process and manufacturing could take as long as the next two quarters. Being Smart is expected to officially launch its devices around the festive season, which would further muster interest and sales for the company. And with his name attached to the said devices, it could also damage the market share of fledgling Chinese smartphone brands such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo.
