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"Consumer Electronics Industry Will Be At Rs 350 Billion In 2012"
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Videocon director Anirudh Dhoot expects the consumer electronics industry to make revenue despite the fluctuating market.
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Tuesday, February 07, 2012:
Videocon has presence across all major consumer appliances segment in India like televisions, washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, microwave ovens and even mobiles. The market has been fluctuating owing to the depreciating rupee and increasing import costs. Despite all odds, Videocon plans to invest approx. Rs 600 million in research and development (R&D) this year.
Anirudh Dhoot, director, Videocon and president of Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufactures Association (CEAMA) in an e-mail interview reveals much more...
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Q. Videocon has presence in all major consumer appliances segment. Which is the most important category for the company and also gets most business?
A. Though we are present in all the product categories across the industry, the biggest contributor to our business is the CTV and Flat Panel Display category.
Q. India's consumer durable industry recorded one of its worst performances in 2011, reporting a disastrous October-December quarter where sales sharply dropped by up to 30 per cent year-on-year. What is going to be Videocon's focus for 2012 to beat the slowdown blues?
A. Our focus for 2012 will be high-end products, which get us good volume and good imagery. This will also help us in increasing our market share in the high-end consumer durables segment.
Q. What are your plans for the year in terms of new products? What is the kind of investment you are looking at for the year and in which segments?
A. Very soon, we will be launching a world-class product from Videocon, which is beyond competition levels. As 2012 is a very important year for us, we are launching new products like digital TVs with bigger screen sizes like 177.8 cm (70 inch), 147.3 cm (58 inch), 139.7 cm (55 inch) and 116.8 cm (46 inch). These digital TVs will have digital reception, H.264 decoder, dual-core CPU with 450 MHz and 14-bit video processing to give very high quality of pictures. We will also be introducing smart LEDs with Android platform. Among other categories, we will be launching new range of ACs, washing machines, refrigerators and many other products in consumer electronics and home appliances.
Q. What kind of investment has Videocon planned for manufacturing this year? Is the company mulling over establishing new production units as demand for consumer durables grow in India?
A. Every year we make investments according to the requirement and demand of the business. This year, we are going to upgrade manufacturing centres and research and development (R&D) centre. For this, we will invest about Rs 500 to 600 million in 2012.
Q. What are the marketing strategies you will be looking at for this year?
A. We intend to focus more on below-the-line activities this year, which will be customised according to different market needs. We will also focus on demonstrating all our high-end products which will enable our customers to experience world-class products before making up their mind to buy it.
Q. How many distributors do you have in India?
A. We have the widest distribution network of around 10,000 dealers, distributors and sub-dealers across India.
Q. What are the kind of schemes that you offer at dealer levels and also at distributor levels?
A. We are the pioneers in foreign tours and also gifting luxury cars like Merc, BMW, Skoda and others to our dealer in India. We still do it.
Q. What do you see as the top three trends for the consumer electronics industry in 2012?
A. The fastest growing trend in consumer electronics domain is the upgradation of durables, especially the flat panel displays. The CRT TVs are getting upgraded to LCDs, LCDs to LEDs, LEDs to 3D LEDs and smart 3D LEDs. There will be a tremendous growth in this category this year.
Q. Considering the fluctuating market rates, what is the outlook this year for the industry?
A. Despite the fluctuation in the market rates, the industry will be at least Rs 350 billion this year.
Q. How do you deal with the challenge of appealing to the mass consumers as well as catering to the high-end ones?
A. Videocon still is close to the heart of the masses. That is why our CTVs are still major contributors in our business. At the same time, we have always been ahead in introducing world-class products in the Indian market. In most of the cases, we have been the first to introduce high-end products in India. So we enjoy the trust of both mass consumers as well as the high-end ones.
Q. Any plans of price hikes from Videocon this year? If yes, what would be the approx. percentage and across which segments?
A. We have already hiked our prices recently. We cannot predict the future at this point since the recent depreciation of the rupee was not expected, but it did happen. So, we will wait and watch and then take the decision regrading further price hikes.
Upasana Rajpal, EFYTIMES News Network
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