Reliance Retail plans to launch cameras, electronic wearables

Mumbai: Reliance Retail, the retail arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), is planning to launch cameras, electronic wearables, dongles and tablets under the Reconnect brand, said two  people aware of the development. 

Reliance Retail plans to sell these products through Reliance Digital stores. 

The company already offers a range of electronic products including, computer mouse, mixers, blenders, television sets, speakers, etc. through Reliance Digital stores and online. 

“RIL already has the brand Reconnect in the market and the new products would be launched under the same brand. Tablets are in the pilot phase and are being tested with the employees. Other products are in the launch pipeline,” said one of the two people aware of the development. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

RIL did not reply to an email sent on 29 December. 

RIL also sells smartphones and smart television sets under the Lyf brand and Jio phones under the Jio brand. The television sets are to work with Jio’s 4G network and content services. 

Last January, Reliance Retail started selling LYF phones through Reliance Digital and Digital Xpress stores and on mylyf.com—the phone’s official website. RIL has four variants of the Lyf phones, namely: Flame, Earth, Water and Wind and the company may launch more variants going forward. 

 According to a joint study by the industry chamber Assocham and NEC Technologies released in June 2017, India’s electronics market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41% for three years to cross $400 billion by 2020.

In 2014-15, India’s share in the world in total electronics hardware production stood at 1.5% or $32.46 billion. 

The second RIL official spoken to said the firm is currently focusing on its latest offering, the Jio Phones, and after meeting demands for the same, other segments would be looked into. “As we go along and as technology evolves, changes will happen in our bouquet of offering. Currently, we have Jio Phones on our mind. Whatever 3G smartphones exist in the market, are upgrading to 4G. But there is a huge market out there which is still 2G feature phones and all those guys are yet to be connected to the world. Jio Phone would also boost our subscriber base,” said the second RIL official on condition of anonymity.

RIL announced the launch of Jio phone, its feature phone in August. The phone can be bought at Rs1,500, which has a provision of being refunded after three years. It offers a larger screen, access to apps, 4G data and 4G VoLTE calls. Jio Phone users will have to pay Rs153 a month. A weekly plan of Rs54 and a two-day plan of Rs24 is on offer. 

The customer base of Reliance Jio has touched 160 million, Akash Ambani, had said at the RIL family day on 23 December.