(5 April 2011 10:50 pm)

MUMBAI: The $7.5-billion China-headquartered Changhong Group is considering setting up a joint venture company to manufacture set-top boxes (STBs) in India.

The manufacturing base, the location of which is yet to be firmed up, will be set up within a year.

"Even if we set up a joint venture, we will have a controlling stake. We may also decide to do it on our own," says Sichuan Changhong Network Technologies country manager for India Martin Jiang.

Changhong Group manufactures the STBs through its subsidiary company Sichuan Changhong Network Technologies.

The company plans to have a base that would be able to sell two million STBs a year in India's rapidly growing digital market.

But why manufacture in India when China is known for scale of economies? "There is a need to set up base and service the market from India. We are also looking at local players for contract manufacturing," says Jiang.

The manufacturing base could be either in Mumbai or in Delhi. The company already has an office in Mumbai and supplies STBs to clients like InCablenet and Manthan.

"We started in 2008-end and have already sold three million STBs in the Indian market," says Jiang.

The company's China unit has a manufacturing capacity of 12 million boxes.