Music and entertainment company Saregama is basking in the success of Carvaan, a retro-looking portable audio player, which packs in 5000 old Hindi movie songs, and also doubles up as an FM radio. Launched in May this year, the product sold 90,000 units between July and September, and following that unexpected success, Saregama is, conservatively, targeting another 200,000 units in the next six months. Music revenues for Saregama increased to Rs 73.20 crores for the quarter, up 134% year on year from Rs 31.23 crores during the same quarter last year. The B2B music revenues, including telecom music sales, YouTube, among others, grew 19% year on year. Carvaan is B2C. Carvaan, whose name (and font) are remarkably similar to Delhi Press' Caravan magazine, is available in two variants: at Rs 6490 and Rs 6990. On an average, "the impact on our topline of a Carvaan is close Rs 4000," Vikram Mehra, the company's Managing Director, said on the earnings conference call. The company manages gross margins of 17% to 18% on Carvaan, and in the last quarter, touched a gross margin of 19%. The company hopes they'll touch a gross margin of up to 20%. Retailer margins are at around 25%, and one thing that Saregama will contribute to bringing this cost factor down is the increase in volumes. Carvaan is being sold mostly from retail outlets, and the network of outlets, which include Vijay Sales and Croma, has grown from 2600 by the end of July, to over 5000 now. Saregama is targeting 10,000…
