Indian smartphone maker Micromax Informatics is reportedly considering an IPO to raise as much as $500 million.

Sources told The Economics Times that the company is planning to raise the money by listing a minority stake on stock market from beginning of its financial year in April.

The company is believed to have shortlisted Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to manage the public offering. It is reported to expect a valuation of 14 times its operating profit.

Micromax entered the Indian handset market in 2008 with cheap large-screened phones. It was the second largest smartphone player in India in the third quarter of 2014 with a 20 per cent market share, according to Counterpoint Research, behind Samsung, which had 25 per cent.

The smartphone vendor is backed by private equity firms TA Associates and Sequoia Capital and previously scrapped an IPO plan in 2010 due to poor market sentiment.

In December last year the company announced a “strategic collaboration” with Intel targeting the country’s tablet market and unveiled the first product resulting from the partnership.