Calcutta, Aug. 29: Videocon Industries today commissioned its mobile handset manufacturing unit at Salt Lake in Calcutta.

"This will be the first mobile handset manufacturing unit in the eastern region," Indrajit Ghosh, chief operating officer of KAIL Limited (Videocon Group), told The Telegraph.

The plant today started making handsets on a pilot basis. Earlier this year, director Anirudh Dhoot had said production from the facility was likely to start by October. Actual production is now expected to start earlier.

This is the group's second mobile manufacturing unit after Aurangabad.

Ghosh said the electronic goods maker would initially manufacture feature phones, which make up almost 40 per cent of the mobile phone market. The unit will start producing smartphones in October.

In Bengal, the company has a 2-3 per cent market share in mobile phones.

Initially, the plant will produce three million handsets per annum. The plan is to increase this to five million units.

"The Calcutta unit will also manufacture handsets for other companies in the future," said Ghosh.

The company manufactures about five lakh television sets per annum at this facility.

Videocon, which entered mobile manufacturing about four years ago, has made an initial investment of Rs 50 crore at the Salt Lake facility.

Around 250 workers make television sets in the Salt Lake plant. Of this, about 100 employees will now make the handsets. "We wish to take the employment figure to 500 in the next three years," Ghosh said.

The company offers a wide range of products under brands such as Videocon, Sansui, Kelvinator, Electrolux and Kenstar. It also makes products for Philips and Hyundai. Mobiles are produced under the Videocon and Sansui brands.