New Delhi, May 9 (IANS): In a bid to strengthen its footprint, homegrown mobile phone maker Jivi Mobile said on Thursday that its manufacturing unit in Lonavala, Maharashtra will be fully operational in the next three months, the company said on Thursday.

Jivi Mobiles in September announced it will invest Rs 100 crore to build its own manufacturing facility in Maharashtra.

"Despite all the challenges, Jivi Mobile has been able to strengthen its roots with more than 40,000 retailers and over 800 service centres in the country," Murthy Bjas, Jivi Mobiles Group Director-Operations, said in a statement.

The company said it is willing to collaborate with more partners, bring in more innovations to differentiate its products, expand into a whole new set of markets, and build stronger and passionate teams to stand out apart from the competition.

"In 2019, we are clear in our objective of building a brand for the future," said Bjas.

He said that the company has made strong inroads into Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and several other countries in the last few months.

"In the feature phone segment, we are targeting 5-8 per cent market share in a year and for smartphones we will try to gain 2 per cent market share in the Rs 5,000-Rs 7,000 segment (that it is operating in)," Bjas had said in an earlier statement.

Currently, the company assembles feature phones in Delhi. The firm is focusing on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities to achieve its growth target.