At a time when Chinese smartphone players are flooding the Indian market vying for market share, some of them are biting the dust amid fierce competition. Indian subsidiary of Topwise Communication, Comio, which launched operations in India in May 2017 is in the process of winding up its operations.
This information has been conveyed by its India CEO Sanjay Kalirona via an email to all partners of Comio India. He was a Director in the company as well, but in the mail, he says he has stepped down as a director on the board of the company.
According to a Gadgets360 report, In his email, Sanjay has shared details on how the parent company from China has stopped providing support to Indian operations and has asked to shut it down suddenly. The Chinese staff working in India have left the country and the dues of employees have not been settled. Kalirona claims he has done his best under a bad situation but wants the partners in the business to be patient and support him in his efforts to see that every penny that the company owed to the trade is settled and the company leaves the country in an atmosphere which is “amicable and peaceful”.
According to him, employees have been advised by the Chinese parent company to stop working, but they have not been paid their dues. Similarly, there have been large-scale complaints from the customers on the phones’ quality but there is no adequate technical support coming from Comio China in terms of replacement of parts and components to carry out repairs.
The dealers are another category of stake holders in Comio India who would demand their pound of flesh. They have been given all the stocks remaining with the company and offered hefty discounts to cover their possible losses and in order to make sure they can also sell the mobiles at knocked down rates. There has been an assurance of a one year support for after-sales service. Already there are reports of some affected persons lodging complaints with the police and regulatory authorities with their grievances.
Comio spent hardly a year in the Indian market and is said to have sold 900,000 units in the period against a target to sell a million. The Comio X1, Comio C1 Pro and Comio X1 Note are some of the models the company released in the market.