Haier Group is aiming for revenues of US$300 million from the sale of mobile handsets in India over the next 18 to 24 months and then consider setting up a plant there, its India head of mobile operations said yesterday.

　　India is expected to snap up about 55 million handsets th is year, up 71 percent from 2005, and the market is forecast to grow to US$5.8 billion by 2010.

　　Haier Telecom (India) Ltd., a joint venture of Haier Group and India?ˉs Scope group, will sell GSM and CDMA phones imported from China priced at 2,000 rupees (US$43) to 20,000 rupees.

　　?°The aim is to be among the top brands in the Indian mobile handsets segment by the end of our first year of operations,?± Arun Khanna, managing director of Haier Telecom (India), said.

　　The company would also consider starting manufacturing operations in India about two years from now with a significant investment, he said. That would cater to the Indian market as well as South Asia and Southeast Asia.

　　Haier hopes that its mobile handsets can piggyback on its appliances in the Indian market. Haier Electronics, the Hong Kong-listed unit of Haier Group, has said it plans to become India?ˉs third-biggest home appliances and consumer electronics firm by 2010.

　　Haier Electronics said in April it would sell its struggling handset business to parent Haier Group.

　　Nokia controls more than half the US$2.5 billion Indian handset market and has a local manufacturing unit, as do South Korea?ˉs LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung.