By Reuters

Mumbai: Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said on 20 June it is setting up a research and development unit in India to strengthen its position in the world’s fastest-growing mobile market.

Sony Ericsson began selling cheap mobile phones in India in January through manufacturing agreements with Flextronics and Foxconn, and has a production target of 10 million units by 2009.

“Establishing a development facility in India, along with manufacturing, gives us a strong foothold for generating future growth,” Sudhin Mathur, general manager for Sony Ericsson India, said in a statement.

Sony Ericsson, a joint venture between Japan’s Sony Corp. and Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson, had more than doubled its share of the Indian market, the statement said without specifying the share.

The India unit will develop innovations that have “worldwide appeal” as well as for the Indian market, the company said.

The unit in the southern city of Chennai will be headed by Anders Grynge, who was previously at its R&D centre in Sweden. Sony Ericsson said it also has R&D units in China, Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United States and Britain.