NEW DELHI: Home-bred Noise expects to exceed Rs 2000 crore in revenue by the end of the fiscal year, up from Rs 850 crore last year thanks to strong growth in the smartwatch and wireless audio product categories. It is also looking for partners to strengthen its R&D and technical capabilities.
Noise co-founder Gaurav Khatri told ET that wearable as a category is growing very fast, especially for smartwatches in the country. “The category is now beginning to spread extensively to the general public. This will be one of the best growth engines for us… we have grown over 200% in this category in the last year.” “There is an acceptance towards the brand.”
Khatri said the company has developed the entire technology for smartwatches in-house and has on-site research and development (R&D). “This allows us to stay ahead of any other competition when it comes to getting the features at the right time.”
Noise has grown more than 100% in the true wireless stereo (TWS) segment last year and expects to grow more than 50% this year, he said.
“We are the number two true wireless brand in India. From a market share of 2%, we have already achieved a market share of 9% in the past year. So again, that also helped us to realize the growth.”
70% of the company’s revenue comes from smartwatches, while the rest comes from audio products.
Last year, India saw nearly 12 million odd units sold in the smartwatch category and the market is expected to grow north of 24 million odd million units sold this year. “So you see that the penetration is increasing. The category itself goes 100% year after year,” Khatri added.
The co-founder said the incubator division, Noise Labs, is now working on several new products other than smartwatches and TWS products.
“We are trying to create and bring a lot of new technology… we will build the products that are much more futuristic and innovative than we have seen in the mass segment,” Khatri said.
“The PLI schemes are a great way to bring in outside investment into the country and we think it’s a pretty good initiative on the part of the government and certainly help the country become a global manufacturing hub and create new ones. create jobs and opportunities for Indian citizens. It is a promising proposal and we look forward to seeing the impact it has on the economy.”
He added that Noise has set up an entire R&D team for its innovation lab. Noise had partnered with Optiemus Electronics Limited (OEL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Optiemus Infracom Limited, last year to manufacture products locally.
OEL designs and manufactures audible products for Noise at its two factories in Noida.
“We have a very strong partnership with OEL. So we are with them as exclusive partner. We built that R&D arm with those who help us build capabilities.”
Khatri said 50-60% of his products will be locally made in the coming months, a 25% increase.
He said the company is looking for partners who can bring it to the next level of growth and help it with R&D and technical capabilities.