India has emerged as the second largest market for handsets and network equipment after China for Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile phone maker. Adding more than 6 million mobile subscribers every month — the highest anywhere in the world — the country has moved ahead of markets like the UK and the US in the first half of this fiscal based on sales of handsets and network business.

“In 2004, Nokia had employed 450 people in India but today we have over 9,000 in India... total outlets in India currently stands at 95,000 out of which 50,000 are selling exclusive Nokia brand phones,” Nokia worldwide CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who is on an India visit, told reporters here. However, the company didn’t disclose the numbers.

Kallasvuo added that the company has manufactured 60 million mobile phones at its Chennai facility in just 18 months. On the network front, the company, which recently merged with Siemens, is also ramping up its Chennai capacity with an investment of over $100 million in the next three years. Asked whether Nokia would set up another mobile manufacturing unit in the country, he declined to give details. “We will continue to grow in India at a much faster pace,” he said.

Initially, the Chennai manufacturing unit was catering only to the domestic market, but currently about half its output is exported to 58 countries, he said.

‘Battery battle has empowered brand’

New Delhi: Nokia today held Japanese battery maker Matsushita responsible for supplying faulty components. “We are investigating into it. But of course they are responsible to us,” Nokia worldwide CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said. He, however, commended the company’s pro-active intervention in taking action. “Nokia as a brand has emerged even stronger,” he proudly asserted.